Quantitative metagenomics reveals unique gut microbiome biomarkers in ankylosing spondylitis

Correction: Upon publication of the original article, it was noted that references 11 and 22 were miscited in the reference list. Both references should be cited as: Costello ME, Ciccia F, Willner D, Warrington N, Robinson PC, Gardiner B, Marshall M, Kenna TJ, Triolo G, Brown MA: Brief Report: Intestinal Dysbiosis in Ankylosing Spondylitis. Arthritis Rheumatol 2015, 67:686-691 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-017-1352-6

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إنجليزي. Background: The assessment and characterization of the gut microbiome has become a focus of research in the area of human autoimmune diseases. Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory autoimmune disease and evidence showed that ankylosing spondylitis may be a microbiome-driven disease. Results: To investigate the relationship between the gut microbiome and ankylosing spondylitis, a quantitative metagenomics study based on deep shotgun sequencing was performed, using gut microbial DNA from 211 Chinese individuals. A total of 23,709 genes and 12 metagenomic species were shown to be differentially abundant between ankylosing spondylitis patients and healthy controls. Patients were characterized by a form of gut microbial dysbiosis that is more prominent than previously reported cases with inflammatory bowel disease. Specifically, the ankylosing spondylitis patients demonstrated increases in the abundance of Prevotella melaninogenica, Prevotella copri, and Prevotella sp. C561 and decreases in Bacteroides spp. It is noteworthy that the Bifidobacterium genus, which is commonly used in probiotics, accumulated in the ankylosing spondylitis patients. Diagnostic algorithms were established using a subset of these gut microbial biomarkers. Conclusions: Alterations of the gut microbiome are associated with development of ankylosing spondylitis. Our data suggest biomarkers identified in this study might participate in the pathogenesis or development process of ankylosing spondylitis, providing new leads for the development of new diagnostic tools and potential treatments.