Bile acid alterations associated with indolent course of inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Background

The indolent course of treatment-naive patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is confirmed predictable based on clinical characteristics. Current evidences supported that bile acids (BAs) alteration might be promising biomarkers in the field of IBD. We aimed to analyze the alterations of BAs as the disease progresses and explore their predictive value for indolent course of IBD.

Methods

The indolent course of IBD was defined as a disease course without need for strict interventions throughout the entire follow-up. A targeted metabolomics method was used to detect the concentration of 27 BAs from serum sample in treatment-naive patients with IBD (Crohn’s disease [CD], n = 27; ulcerative colitis [UC], n = 50). Patients with CD and UC were individually divided into two groups for further study according to the median time of indolent course. The overall BAs profile and the clinical value of BAs in predicting indolent course of IBD were identified between different groups.

Results

For CD, the levels of deoxycholic acid, glycodeoxycholic acid, taurodeoxycholic acid, glycolithocholic acid-3-sulfate disodium salt and iso-lithocholic acid were significantly increased in patients with indolent course > 18 M (p < 0.05). These five BAs owned 83.5% accuracy for predicting indolent course over 18 months in CD. For UC, the concentration of deoxycholic acid and glycodeoxycholic acid were significantly higher, while dehydrocholic acid were lower in patients with indolent course > 48 M (p < 0.05). These three BAs predicted indolent course over 48 months of 69.8% accuracy in UC.

Conclusion

The specific BAs alterations might be potential biomarkers in predicting disease course of IBD patients.

Keywords:

• Inflammatory bowel disease
• indolent course
• bile acid

Authors’ contributions

Xiaojun Zhuang designed the study. Caiguang Liu, Shukai Zhan and Na Li conducted the experiments. Caiguang Liu, Tu Tong and Jianming Lin collected and analyzed the data. Caiguang Liu and Manying Li wrote the manuscript. Minhu Chen, Zhirong Zeng and Xiaojun Zhuang revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final version.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data underlying this article are available in the article and in its online supplementary material.

Additional information

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number #82100576]; the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation [grant number #2020A1515111087]; and the Guangdong Medical Science and Technology Research Fund [No. A2020160].