Author response: Expansion of intestinal Prevotella copri correlates with enhanced susceptibility to arthritis

Interleukin-17 Inhibition in Spondyloarthritis Is Associated With Subclinical Gut Microbiome Perturbations and a Distinctive Interleukin-25-Driven Intestinal Inflammation

Objective To characterize the ecological effects of biologic therapies on the gut bacterial and fungal microbiome in psoriatic arthritis (PsA)/spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients. Methods Fecal samples from PsA/SpA patients pre- and posttreatment with tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi; n = 15) or an anti-interleukin-17A monoclonal antibody inhibitor (IL-17i; n = 14) underwent sequencing (16S ribosomal RNA, internal transcribed spacer and shotgun metagenomics) and computational microbiome analysis. Fecal levels of fatty acid metabolites and cytokines/proteins implicated in PsA/SpA pathogenesis or intestinal inflammation were correlated with sequence data. Additionally, ileal biopsies obtai…

Detection of plasmid-mediated colistin resistance, mcr-1 gene, in Escherichia coli isolated from high-risk patients with acute leukemia in Spain

Background: Bacterial infections in immunocompromised patients are associated with a high mortality and morbidity rate. In this high-risk group, the presence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria, particularly bacteria that harbor a transferable antibiotic resistance gene, complicates the management of bacterial infections. In this study, we investigated the presence of the transferable colistin resistance mcr genes in patients with leukemia in Spain. Methods: 217 fecal samples collected in 2013-2015 from 56 patients with acute leukemia and colonized with MDR Enterobacteriaceae strains, were screened on September 2017 for the presence of the colistin resistance mcr genes (mcr-1 to -5) by mu…

IL-17 controls central nervous system autoimmunity through the intestinal microbiome

Interleukin-17A- (IL-17A) and IL-17F-producing CD4(+) T helper cells (T(H)17 cells) are implicated in the development of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and its animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). T-H 17 cells also orchestrate leukocyte invasion of the central nervous system (CNS) and subsequent tissue damage. However, the role of IL-17A and IL-17F as effector cytokines is still confused with the encephalitogenic function of the cells that produce these cytokines, namely, T-H 17 cells, fueling a long-standing debate in the neuroimmunology field. Here, we demonstrated that mice deficient for IL-17A/F lose their susceptibility to EAE, which…

IL-17 Inhibition in Spondyloarthritis Associates with Subclinical Gut Microbiome Perturbations and a Distinctive IL-25-Driven Intestinal Inflammation

To characterize the ecological effects of biologic therapies on the gut bacterial and fungal microbiome of psoriatic arthritis (PsA)/spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients.

Expansion of intestinal Prevotella copri correlates with enhanced susceptibility to arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a prevalent systemic autoimmune disease, caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Animal models suggest a role for intestinal bacteria in supporting the systemic immune response required for joint inflammation. Here we performed 16S sequencing on 114 stool samples from rheumatoid arthritis patients and controls, and shotgun sequencing on a subset of 44 such samples. We identified the presence of Prevotella copri as strongly correlated with disease in new-onset untreated rheumatoid arthritis (NORA) patients. Increases in Prevotella abundance correlated with a reduction in Bacteroides and a loss of reportedly beneficial microbes in NORA subjec…