{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T20:13:54Z","timestamp":1790108034742,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,13]],"date-time":"2025-02-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1739404800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Jeonbuk National University","award":["NRF-2022R1I1A2070940"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2022R1I1A2070940"]}]},{"name":"Fund of Biomedical Research Institute, Jeonbuk National University Hospital","award":["NRF-2022R1I1A2070940"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2022R1I1A2070940"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001321","name":"National Research Foundation of Korea","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["NRF-2022R1I1A2070940"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2022R1I1A2070940"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001321","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Dysbiosis in the bile microbiota of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) patients suggests a potential role for microbial alterations in the pathogenesis of CCA. This study aimed to investigate bile microbial communities in patients with CCA and compare them to those in individuals with benign biliary diseases as a control (CTR) group. Microbial profiling was conducted using next-generation sequencing (NGS), targeting the V3\u2013V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene, followed by bioinformatics analysis using the VSEARCH and EzBioCloud platforms. Alpha and beta diversity analyses were performed to assess microbial richness and structural differences. The linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) was utilized to identify potential microbial biomarkers. Results: This study identified distinct microbial profiles in the two groups at both the phylum and genus levels. In the CTR group, Pseudomonadota (65%) was the dominant phyla, while Bacillota (49%) was more abundant in the CCA group. At the genus level, Escherichia (29%), Enterobacteriaceae (12%), Enterococcus (8%), Ralstonia (8%), and Clostridium (5%) were more prevalent in the CTR group, whereas Streptococcus (34%), Ralstonia (8%), and Veillonella (5%) were dominant in the CCA group. Although an alpha diversity analysis showed no statistically significant differences in species richness or diversity between groups, a beta diversity analysis revealed significant structural differences associated with disease severity. Our comparative microbiome study using LEfSe analysis suggested a statistically significant inhibition of normal intestinal bacterial flora in patients with CCA who had not received any treatment. These findings suggest that microbial dysbiosis may play a role in the pathogenesis of CCA. Specific microbial taxa were identified as potential biomarkers for distinguishing benign from malignant diseases. These results underscore the potential role of microbial dysbiosis in CCA pathogenesis and highlight the bile microbiota\u2019s utility as a diagnostic marker for biliary diseases.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms26041577","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,13]],"date-time":"2025-02-13T05:10:22Z","timestamp":1739423422000},"page":"1577","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Dysbiosis of Bile Microbiota in Cholangiocarcinoma Patients: A Comparison with Benign Biliary Diseases"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7194-7416","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Wonsuk","family":"Park","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Daejeon St. Mary\u2019s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sang Kuon","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0932-9542","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jin","family":"Gwack","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Prevention Medicine, College of Medicine, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju 54907, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Jeonbuk National University-Biomedical Research Institute of Jeonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju 54907, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2851-1112","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Seung Yeob","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Jeonbuk National University-Biomedical Research Institute of Jeonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju 54907, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, Jeonbuk National University College of Medicine and Hospital, Jeonju 54907, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3011-6875","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yong Gon","family":"Cho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Jeonbuk National University-Biomedical Research Institute of Jeonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju 54907, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, Jeonbuk National University College of Medicine and Hospital, Jeonju 54907, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1946-7896","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sang-Bum","family":"Kang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, Daejeon St. Mary\u2019s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7354-4234","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joonhong","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Jeonbuk National University-Biomedical Research Institute of Jeonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju 54907, Republic of Korea"},{"name":"Department of Laboratory Medicine, Jeonbuk National University College of Medicine and Hospital, Jeonju 54907, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.1038\/s41575-020-0310-z","article-title":"Cholangiocarcinoma 2020: The next horizon in mechanisms and management","volume":"17","author":"Banales","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat. 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