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Systemic sclerosis linked to alterations in gut microbiota
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Systemic sclerosis was linked to alterations in the gut microbiota, according to recently published findings.
Elizabeth R. Volkmann, MD, MS, from UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, and colleagues collected stool samples from 17 patients with systemic sclerosis from a UCLA cohort, 17 patients from an Oslo University Hospital (OUH) cohort and 17 individuals from a healthy control cohort.
Compared with healthy controls, investigators found a significant difference in microbial composition in the UCLA (R2 = 0.355) and OUH cohorts (R2 = 0.126). The two most frequent bacteria were Bacteroidetes (21.3% for UCLA, 45% for OUH and 63.2% for controls) and firmicutes (63.5% for UCLA, 42.8% for OUH and 33% for controls), with a significant difference of Bacteroidetes between healthy cohorts and the UCLA and OUH cohorts. Compared with healthy controls, Faecalibacterium was lower in the UCLA cohort and Clostridium was lower in the OUH cohort; whereas, Fusobacterium, Ruminococcus, Gammaproteobacteria and Erwinia were higher in the UCLA cohort. For both cohorts, Clostridium was more common in patients with a lower gastrointestinal symptom severity; Lactobacillus was more common in patients with milder constipation; and Prevotella was more common in patients with a higher gastrointestinal symptom severity.
“Currently, few effective treatment options exist for managing lower gastrointestinal tract symptoms in patients with systemic sclerosis,” Volkmann and colleagues wrote. “If specific genera are found to contribute the gastrointestinal tract phenotype in systemic sclerosis, such genera could provide specific targets for intervention to avert or treat this important clinical dimension of systemic sclerosis.” – by Will A. Offit
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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