Gut microbiota of hepatitis B virus-infected patients in the immune-tolerant and immune-active phases and their implications in metabolite changes

The microbes and metabolomics of microbiota dysbiosis in the gut in the different phases of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are not fully understood.To investigate the specific gut microbiota and metabolites of the immune-tolerant (IT) and immune-active (IA) phases of chronic hepatitis B (CHB).Clinical fecal samples from healthy individuals and patients in the IT and IA phases of HBV infection were collected. Next, non-target metabolomics, bioinformatics, and 16S rDNA sequencing analyses were performed.A total of 293 different metabolites in 14 phyla, 22 classes, 29 orders, 51 families, and 190 genera were identified. The four phyla ofThese findings provide observational evidence of compositional alterations of the gut microbiome and some related metabolites in patients with IT-phase or IA-phase HBV infection. Further studies should investigate whether microbiota modulation can facilitate the progression of CHB and the cause-effect relationship between the gut microbiota and CHB.