Differences in gut microbiota structure in patients with stages 4-5 chronic kidney disease.

The gut microbiota can affect human metabolism, immunity, and other biologic pathways through the complex gut-kidney axis (GKA), and in turn participate in the occurrence and development of kidney disease. In this study, 39 patients with stage 4-5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) and 40 healthy individuals were recruited and 16S rDNA sequencing was performed to analyze the V3-V4 conserved regions of their microbiota. A total of 795 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) shared between groups or specific to each group were obtained, among which 255 OTUs with significant differences between the two groups were identified (<0.