07.25.22
For what they report to be the first time, researchers investigated the relationship between vitamin D and C. difficile infections, in a human clinical study appearing in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology. According to the authors, vitamin D supplementation was linked to a greater alpha diversity of gut bacteria, including more beneficial bacteria, in patients who were in recovery after treatment.
“Current therapeutic strategies for Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI), including oral vancomycin, metronidazole and fecal microbial transplantation, have limited efficacy and treatment failure may occur in as many as one-third of cases. Recent studies have reported that lower concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D are associated with CDI severity and recurrence. However, there have been no studies on microbiota composition after the administration of vitamin D in patients with CDI,” the authors wrote.
In the study, the researchers divided CDI patients into two groups: one group, which had vitamin D deficiency, received 200,000 IU of vitamin D daily, while the other group received a placebo. Both groups were also receiving the drug vancomycin. Stool samples were obtained twice before the treatment, as well as eight weeks after treatment, and metagenomic sequencing was performed using EzBioCloud.
“The alpha diversity of the gut microbiota in the recovery state was significantly higher than that in the CDI state. Analysis of bacterial relative abundance showed significantly lower Proteobacteria and higher Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Akkermansiaceae, and Bifidobacteriaceae in the recovery state,” the authors concluded. “Our study confirmed that the increase in the abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacteriaceae and Christensenellaceae were prominently evident during recovery after administration of a high dose of cholecalciferol. These findings indicate that vitamin D administration may be useful in patients with CDI, and further studies with larger sample sizes are required.”
“Current therapeutic strategies for Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI), including oral vancomycin, metronidazole and fecal microbial transplantation, have limited efficacy and treatment failure may occur in as many as one-third of cases. Recent studies have reported that lower concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D are associated with CDI severity and recurrence. However, there have been no studies on microbiota composition after the administration of vitamin D in patients with CDI,” the authors wrote.
In the study, the researchers divided CDI patients into two groups: one group, which had vitamin D deficiency, received 200,000 IU of vitamin D daily, while the other group received a placebo. Both groups were also receiving the drug vancomycin. Stool samples were obtained twice before the treatment, as well as eight weeks after treatment, and metagenomic sequencing was performed using EzBioCloud.
“The alpha diversity of the gut microbiota in the recovery state was significantly higher than that in the CDI state. Analysis of bacterial relative abundance showed significantly lower Proteobacteria and higher Lachnospiraceae, Ruminococcaceae, Akkermansiaceae, and Bifidobacteriaceae in the recovery state,” the authors concluded. “Our study confirmed that the increase in the abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacteriaceae and Christensenellaceae were prominently evident during recovery after administration of a high dose of cholecalciferol. These findings indicate that vitamin D administration may be useful in patients with CDI, and further studies with larger sample sizes are required.”