Dysbiosis of the faecal microbiota in patients with Crohn's disease and their unaffected relatives

Focusing on families with at least three members affected with CD, faecal samples of 68 patients with CD, 84 of their unaffected relatives and 55 matched controls were subjected to community fingerprinting of the predominant microbiota using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). To analyse the DGGE profiles, BioNumerics software and non-parametric statistical analyses (SPSS V.17.0) were used. Observed differences in the predominant microbiota were subsequently confirmed and quantified with real-time PCR.

Five bacterial species characterised dysbiosis in CD, namely a decrease in Dialister invisus (p=0.04), an uncharacterised species of Clostridium cluster XIVa (p = 0.03), Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (p