Integrated analysis of serum metabolomics and fecal microbiome in infants with necrotizing enterocolitis

作者：Zhi-ying Lin, Shanshan He, Zhaolan Mo, Xiao-tian Liao, Zhou-shan Feng, Juan Kong, Lu Zhu, Ying Li, Hui-yuan Tan, Ziren Su, Chunhong Jia, Fan Wu · 发表于：Frontiers in Microbiology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3389/fmicb.2025.1584041 · 被引用次数：4 · 研究领域：Infant Nutrition and Health、Gut microbiota and health、Neonatal and Maternal Infections

Background Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a lethal gastrointestinal disorder in preterm infants, remains poorly understood in its pathology, and early diagnosis are critically limited. Multi-omics approaches present unprecedented opportunities to elucidate NEC pathogenesis and identify clinically translatable biomarkers. Methods Infants with Bell stage II-III NEC and gestational age-matched controls were enrolled. Serum/stool samples from NEC patients at acute (NEC-D) and recovery (NEC-R) phases, and controls (non-NEC) were collected. Fecal metagenomic sequencing and serum untargeted metabolomic profiling were performed. Clinical parameters were compared. Results The study comprised seven NEC and seven non-NEC infants. Baseline neonatal characteristics and maternal perinatal parameters showed no significant differences between NEC-D and non-NEC except for markedly lower leukocyte counts in NEC infants. Fecal metagenomics revealed severely diminished alpha diversity in NEC-D versus both non-NEC controls and NEC-R, characterized with lower Chao1 index. NEC-D exhibited elevated Escherichia coli relative abundance alongside reduced Staphylococcus haemolyticus , Staphylococcus aureus , Staphylococcus epidermidis , and Lactobacillus paracasei . Correspondingly, KEGG functional gene analysis demonstrated impaired metabolism in NEC-D. Serum metabolomics identified significantly decreased ornithine, DL-arginine, L-threonine, leucine, and D-proline in NEC-D versus non-NEC. NEC-D also...