Title: Fecal Microbiota Profiling in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome-Type Symptoms
Version: 2 Date: 05 Feb 2021
Reviewer:  Cesare Cremon
Reviewer's report:
This is a study assessing the role of intestinal microbiota in symptom generation in patients with
inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in remission with or without irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-
like symptoms, as compared with patients with IBS or healthy controls.
As compared with patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) in remission, patients with CD in
remission and IBS-like symptoms had an increase of Faecalibacterium and a decrease of
Fusobacterium, while no microbial differences were found in patients with ulcerative colitis
(UC) in remission with or without IBS-like symptoms.
The study is interesting; however there are several flaws that reduce the quality of the
manuscript:
IBS is characterized by abdominal pain and not by abdominal analgesia, as reported in Methods,
Participants and Setting, IBS patients. In addition, since 2016 diagnostic gold standard is
represented by the Rome IV criteria. Due to wrong definition and use of old criteria (Rome
III criteria), it is not clear who population with IBS is represented in this study. In addition, is
unclear why the authors used the old Rome III criteria for the identification of patients with IBS
and the new Rome IV criteria for the identification of patients with IBD in remission with IBS-
like symptoms.
This study was not controlled for age, sex, diet, medications. This information is of great value
since all these factors may impact on gut homeostasis and consequently on gut microbiota.
Although the manuscript is easy to read and understand, there are a few of typos in the text,
English language is sometimes poor and needs consistent revision.
In conclusion, data presented in this study, although interesting and promising, lack of some
consistence due to the study design, and further research is needed. Probably this study is better
suited to a Microbiology Journal.
Title: Fecal Microbiota Profiling in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome-Type Symptoms
Version: 2 Date: 05 Feb 2021
Reviewer:  Cesare Cremon
Reviewer's report:
This is a study assessing the role of intestinal microbiota in symptom generation in patients with
inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in remission with or without irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-
like symptoms, as compared with patients with IBS or healthy controls.
As compared with patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) in remission, patients with CD in
remission and IBS-like symptoms had an increase of Faecalibacterium and a decrease of
Fusobacterium, while no microbial differences were found in patients with ulcerative colitis
(UC) in remission with or without IBS-like symptoms.
The study is interesting; however there are several flaws that reduce the quality of the
manuscript:
IBS is characterized by abdominal pain and not by abdominal analgesia, as reported in Methods,
Participants and Setting, IBS patients. In addition, since 2016 diagnostic gold standard is
represented by the Rome IV criteria. Due to wrong definition and use of old criteria (Rome
III criteria), it is not clear who population with IBS is represented in this study. In addition, is
unclear why the authors used the old Rome III criteria for the identification of patients with IBS
and the new Rome IV criteria for the identification of patients with IBD in remission with IBS-
like symptoms.
This study was not controlled for age, sex, diet, medications. This information is of great value
since all these factors may impact on gut homeostasis and consequently on gut microbiota.
Although the manuscript is easy to read and understand, there are a few of typos in the text,
English language is sometimes poor and needs consistent revision.
In conclusion, data presented in this study, although interesting and promising, lack of some
consistence due to the study design, and further research is needed. Probably this study is better
suited to a Microbiology Journal.
Please review this paper.
user
Title: Fecal Microbiota Profiling in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome-Type Symptoms
Version: 2 Date: 05 Feb 2021
Reviewer:  Cesare Cremon
Reviewer's report:
This is a study assessing the role of intestinal microbiota in symptom generation in patients with
inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in remission with or without irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-
like symptoms, as compared with patients with IBS or healthy controls.
As compared with patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) in remission, patients with CD in
remission and IBS-like symptoms had an increase of Faecalibacterium and a decrease of
Fusobacterium, while no microbial differences were found in patients with ulcerative colitis
(UC) in remission with or without IBS-like symptoms.
The study is interesting; however there are several flaws that reduce the quality of the
manuscript:
IBS is characterized by abdominal pain and not by abdominal analgesia, as reported in Methods,
Participants and Setting, IBS patients. In addition, since 2016 diagnostic gold standard is
represented by the Rome IV criteria. Due to wrong definition and use of old criteria (Rome
III criteria), it is not clear who population with IBS is represented in this study. In addition, is
unclear why the authors used the old Rome III criteria for the identification of patients with IBS
and the new Rome IV criteria for the identification of patients with IBD in remission with IBS-
like symptoms.
This study was not controlled for age, sex, diet, medications. This information is of great value
since all these factors may impact on gut homeostasis and consequently on gut microbiota.
Although the manuscript is easy to read and understand, there are a few of typos in the text,
English language is sometimes poor and needs consistent revision.
In conclusion, data presented in this study, although interesting and promising, lack of some
consistence due to the study design, and further research is needed. Probably this study is better
suited to a Microbiology Journal.
assistant