Background: Epidemiological studies showed that diabetes patients are more prone to developing cholelithiasis. Although composition of gut microbiota in type 2 diabetes or cholelithiasis have been studied respectively, the underlying role of gut microbiota in developing from diabetes to cholelithiasis remains unclear. By 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the gut microbial composition of 33 healthy subjects, 53 type 2 diabetes, 31 cholelithiasis and 32 type 2 diabetes complicated with cholelithiasis patients were studied.
Results: Microbial diversity significantly decreased in type 2 diabetes complicated with cholelithiasis patients. In type 2 diabetes patients, phylum Proteobacteria class Gammaproteobacteria and order Lactobacillales were significantly increased. In cholelithiasis patients, phylum Bacteroidetes, class Bacteroidia order Bacteroidales family Bacteroidaceae and genus Bacteroides were significantly increased. There were also significant increases of phylum Proteobacteria, class Gammaproteobacteria order Lactobacillales family Lactobacillaceae and genus Lactobacillus in type 2 diabetes complicated with cholelithiasis patients accompanied by elevated serum triglyceride and total bile acids.
Conclusions: The results show similar but more intricate gut microbiota dysbiosis in type 2 diabetes complicated with cholelithiasis compared with type 2 diabetes, which might partially explain the mechanism of type 2 diabetes as the risk factor of cholelithiasis from the perspective of gut microbiota.