Shotgun metagenomics reveals an enrichment of potentially cross-reactive bacterial epitopes in ankylosing spondylitis patients, as well as the effects of TNFi therapy upon microbiome composition

摘要

Objectives Diverse evidence including clinical, genetic and microbiome studies support a major role of the gut microbiome in the common immune-mediated arthropathy, ankylosing spondylitis (AS). We set out to (1) further define the key microbial characteristics driving disease, and (2) examine the effects of tumour necrosis factor-inhibitor (TNFi) therapy upon the microbiome.