Contemporary Research Analysis Journal

Pediatric ulcerative colitis is associated with changes in the gut microbiome. However, how microbial associations reorganize over time during treatment remains less well understood. This study aimed to examine longitudinal changes in microbial networks and their association with initial treatment strategies and clinical remission. We analyzed longitudinal data from the PROTECT cohort, including 132 patients with samples collected at weeks 0, 4, and 12. Of these, 90 also had samples available at week 52. Genus-level microbial association networks were constructed using centered log-ratio (CLR) transformed abundances and Spearman correlations, with a threshold of |ρ| ≥ 0.40. Topological and spectral measures, Jaccard distance, changes in edge identity, and bacterial genus centrality were examined. Between-group comparisons were assessed using patient-level bootstrap resampling. In the longitudinal subcohort, network density decreased from 0.1439 at week 0 to 0.0930 at week 52. Clustering coefficient and spectral radius also declined. The CS-IV group showed the highest Jaccard distance from baseline at week 52 (0.8053), compared with CS-Oral (0.7380) and 5-ASA (0.6827). Patients who achieved corticosteroid-free remission at week 52 showed partial recovery in network density between weeks 4 and 12, while density continued to decline in the non-remission group. However, bootstrap comparisons did not provide clear statistical evidence of differences between remission groups. These findings indicate longitudinal changes in microbial network organization and edge identity during treatment.

pediatric ulcerative colitis, gut microbiome, longitudinal network analysis, network rewiring, clinical remission, PROTECT cohort.

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