Gut Microbiota Alternation in Disease Progression of Neurosyphilis

Figures & data

Figure 1 Flow chart of the study. ^aSyphilis patients who were first hospitalized from December 2020 to June 2021.

Abbreviations: CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; NS, neurosyphilis; GP, general paresis.

Table 1 Clinical and Laboratory Characteristics of Study Subjects

Characteristics	NS Group (n=39)	GP Group* (n=18)	Non-NS Group (n=23)	P value
				NS vs Non-NS	GP vs Non-NS
Age	60 (53–66)	62 (56–68)	40 (26–60)	0.015	0.007
Sex				0.347	0.075
Female	11 (28.21%)	2 (11.11%)	9 (39.13%)
Male	28 (71.79%)	16 (88.89%)	14 (60.87%)
1/serum RPR titer	16 (32–64)	20 (48–64)	16 (32–64)	0.499	0.181
CSF-WBC count (10^6/L)	30 (16–48)	30 (17–48)	2 (0–6)	≤0.01	≤0.01
CSF-protein concentration (mg/L)	700 (498–1096)	1114 (917–1268)	390 (289–485)	≤0.01	≤0.01
CSF-VDRL positive	35 (87.18%)	18 (100%)	0 (0%)	≤0.01	≤0.01

Notes: *GP group belongs to NS group. Data were given as proportion or median, IQR. t-tests was used for continuous variables, chi-square tests or Fisher’s exact test was used for categorical variables, and Mann–Whitney tests was adopted for serum RPR titer.

Abbreviations: RPR, rapid plasma reagin; NS, neurosyphilis; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; WBC, white blood cell; VDRL, Venereal Disease Research Laboratory.

Figure 2 Venn diagram of NS versus non-NS group and GP group versus non-NS group. (A) Venn diagram for NS group and non-NS group. (B) Venn diagram for GP group and non-NS group.

Figure 3 Community analysis of NS, GP, and non-NS groups. (A) Percentage of community abundance for all samples from NS, GP, and non-NS groups at the genus level. (B) Percentage of community abundance of NS, GP, and non-NS groups at the phylum level.

Figure 4 Wilcoxon rank-sum test bar plot of GP group and non-NS group at the phylum level. *P value <0.05.

Figure 5 Wilcoxon rank-sum test bar plot of NS versus non-NS group and GP group versus non-NS group at the genus level. (A) Wilcoxon rank-sum test bar plot of NS group and non-NS group at the genus level. (B) Wilcoxon rank-sum test bar plot of GP group and non-NS group at the genus level. *P value <0.05 **P value <0.01.

Figure 6 LEfSe analyses of NS versus non-NS group and GP group versus non-NS group. (A) Cladogram of NS group and non-NS group. (B) Cladogram of GP group and non-NS group. (C) Histogram of the LDA scores computed for features differentially abundant between NS group and non-NS group. (D) Histogram of the LDA scores computed for features differentially abundant between GP group and non-NS group.