title: Role of the Gut Microbiome in Modulating Arthritis Progression in Mice.
abstract: Genetics alone cannot explain most cases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Thus, investigating environmental factors such as the gut microbiota may provide new insights into the initiation and progression of RA. In this study, we performed 16S rRNA sequencing to characterise the gut microbiota of DBA1 mice that did or did not develop arthritis after induction with collagen. We found that divergence in the distribution of microbiota after induction was pronounced and significant. Mice susceptible to collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) showed enriched operational taxonomic units (OTUs) affiliated with the genus Lactobacillus as the dominant genus prior to arthritis onset. With disease development, the abundance of OTUs affiliated with the families Bacteroidaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and S24-7 increased significantly in CIA-susceptible mice. Notably, germ-free mice conventionalized with the microbiota from CIA-susceptible mice showed a higher frequency of arthritis induction than those conventionalized with the microbiota from CIA-resistant mice. Consistently, the concentration of the cytokine interleukin-17 in serum and the proportions of CD8+T cells and Th17 lymphocytes in the spleen were significantly higher in the former group, whereas the abundances of dendritic cells, B cells, and Treg cells in the spleen were significantly lower. Our results suggest that the gut microbiome influences arthritis susceptibility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaofei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Animal Science, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Benhua
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Animal Science, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Wenxia
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Fangxiang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mou
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Heng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Like
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Animal Science, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Yongfei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001169:Arthritis, Experimental / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D003094:Collagen; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D006801:Humans; D020381:Interleukin-17 / Q000097:blood; D051379:Mice; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D020381:Interleukin-17; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D003094:Collagen