Abstract
Little is known regarding differences in the gut microbiomes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and healthy cohorts in China. This study aimed to identify differences in the fecal microbiomes of 66 Chinese patients with RA and 60 healthy Chinese controls. The V3-V4 variable regions of bacterial 16S rRNA genes were sequenced with the Illumina system to define the bacterial composition. The alpha-diversity index of the microbiome of the RA patients was significantly lower than that of the control group. The bacterial genera Bacteroides (p = 0.02202) and Escherichia-Shigella (p = 0.03137) were more abundant in RA patients. In contrast, Lactobacillus (p = 0.000014), Alloprevotella (p = 0.0000008615), Enterobacter (p = 0.000005759), and Odoribacter (p = 0.0000166) were less abundant in the RA group than in the control group. Spearman correlation analysis of blood physiological measures of RA showed that bacterial genera such as Dorea and Ruminococcus were positively correlated with RF-IgA and anti-CCP antibodies. Furthermore, Alloprevotella and Parabacteroides were positively correlated with the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and Prevotella-2 and Alloprevotella were positively correlated with C-reactive protein, both biomarkers of inflammation. These findings suggest that the gut microbiota may contribute to RA development via interactions with the host immune system.
Highlights
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common, chronic, autoimmune, and inflammatory disease affecting up to 1% of adults worldwide
The results indicate that many individuals with specific compositional characteristics of the gut microbiome are more susceptible to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which may aid in the diagnosis or determination of the susceptibility of individuals to RA via detection of the gut microbiome
We showed that the diversity and composition of the microbiome of RA patients differed from those in healthy control subjects in China
Summary
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common, chronic, autoimmune, and inflammatory disease affecting up to 1% of adults worldwide. Theories of the relationship between microbiome dysbiosis and RA date from the toxemic factor hypothesis originally proposed at the turn of the twentieth century. This hypothesis posited that the overgrowth of gram-negative bacteria in the intestines leads to an increase in toxic metabolites. Gut Microbiota in Chinese RA that enter the circulation and promote joint inflammation (Brusca et al, 2014). It is controversial whether RA is initiated by pathogenic bacteria (Tung et al, 1987; Scher and Abramson, 2011). In addition to certain infectious agents, intestinal commensal microbes may be related to RA
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