Background/Purpose: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a common chronic, systemic, inflammatory disease. Gut microbiome has been reported to play an important role in the homeostasis of human immune system as well as the pathogenesis of AS. In this study, we conducted a research to investigate the differences of gut microbiome between AS patients and healthy controls by the metagenomics approach.

Methods: The fecal sample of 218 AS patients and healthy controls (HCs) were collected and their DNA were extracted. High-throughput sequencing methods with bioinformatics analysis were conducted to reveal the phylogenesis and functional differences of microbiome between AS patients and HCs.

Results: Different species, families and phylum were observed to be enriched in patients and controls. Bacteroidetes was the only phylum enriched in AS patients. Microbiota of intestine from HCs showed more diversity compared to patients. Both Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Clostridia and Proteobacteria were enriched in HCs. KEGG pathway and module analysis showed that gut microbiota of patients were particularly enriched in the synthesis of LPS and non−mevalonate pathway, which may associate with the regulation of immune system and contribute to the development of disease. Gut microbiome of 27 treated patients who finished one-year follow-up were also sequenced and analyzed. The dysbiosis of the patients were partially restored. The diagnosis model based on gut microbiome information was established and tested, leading to a comparable diagnostic ability to the current criteria.

Conclusion: Dysbiosis of gut microbiota was observed in AS patients compared to HCs. Particular pathway and module enriched in patients such as LPS, may contribute to the pathogenesis of AS. Our study showed that gut microbiome could be used as biomarkers to identified AS patients. Therefore, our findings provide a novel insight of the pathogenesis and diagnosis of AS.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/dysbiosis-of-gut-microbiomes-in-ankylosing-spondylitis/