We write in response to the Letter to the Editor by van den Berg et al 1 commenting on our recent article ‘Gut microbiota predicts severity and reveals novel metabolic signatures in acute pancreatitis’.2 We greatly appreciate the interest in our work and are grateful to clarify some aspects of the study. The primary endpoint of our study investigated whether microbial compositions can be employed as early predictors for severity of acute pancreatitis (AP). Patients with revised Atlanta classification III (RAC III) showed highly significant microbial differences compared with RAC I and RAC II. Further analysis revealed a higher abundance of species that are known producers of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in severe AP. Van den Berg et al mention the lack of a healthy control cohort, however, it is already known from previous studies that the microbial composition in stool samples of patients with AP is different from healthy controls in the early phase of AP.3 Our …

中文翻译：

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反应：严重急性胰腺炎患者的短链脂肪酸：朋友还是敌人？


我们写信是为了回应 van den Berg 等人 1 给编辑的信，该信评论了我们最近的文章“肠道微生物群预测严重程度并揭示急性胰腺炎的新代谢特征”2。我们非常感谢对我们工作的兴趣，并感谢澄清这项研究的某些方面。我们研究的主要终点调查了微生物成分是否可以用作急性胰腺炎 （AP） 严重程度的早期预测因子。与 RAC I 和 RAC II 相比，修订的亚特兰大分类 III （RAC III） 患者表现出高度显着的微生物差异。进一步的分析显示，在严重 AP 中已知的短链脂肪酸 （SCFA） 生产者物种的丰度更高。Van den Berg 等人提到缺乏健康的对照队列，但是，从以前的研究中已经知道，AP 患者粪便样本中的微生物组成与 AP 早期的健康对照不同。