THU0201 ANALYSIS OF GUT MICROBIOTA DIVERSITY IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF PROBIOTICS ON INTESTINAL FLORA
Authors: Ming Yan, Sheng-Xiao Zhang, Chong Gao, Xiao-Bin Zheng, Lili Shang, Xu-Fang Yin, Zhang Mingxing, Jia Wang, Ting Cheng, Nalin Lai, LI Xiao-Feng
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2019)

<h3>Background:</h3> Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a progressive, irreversible disease characterized by autoimmune imbalance. Recent studies have found that the number and type of intestinal flora in RA patients were changed (called disorders), which in turn leads to immune imbalance in RA patients. The breath test can indirectly assess the growth of bacteria in the intestine. This study aimed to investigate the intestinal flora imbalance in RA patients and the effect of probiotics on the intestinal flora of RA patients using methane and hydrogen breath test. <h3>Objectives:</h3> To study the beneficial effects of probiotics on the intestinal flora of RA patients by detecting the concentrations of methane and hydrogen and the microbial populations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) before and after probiotic treatment. <h3>Methods:</h3> The lactulose methane and hydrogen breath technique were used to detect and compare the concentration of methane and hydrogen in 36 patients with RA before and after probiotic treatment (mainly Bifidobacterium, Clostridium butyricum, Lactobacillus) for 3 weeks. At the same time, the 16SRNA V3 region in stool samples of 17 patients with RA was qualitatively analyzed by Roche/45 high-throughput sequencing platform and compared with 9 healthy adult stool samples. <h3>Results:</h3> Compared with pre-intervention, after 3 weeks of probiotic treatment, the exhaled methane concentration was significantly increased in RA patients at 30 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.05). The sum of methane and hydrogen concentrations increased at 30 minutes (<i>P</i>= 0.041). There was no significant difference in hydrogen concentration before and after intervention (P &gt; 0.05) (Table 1). Compared with healthy adults, the fecal diversity index (Shannon) of RA patients increased (<i>P</i> &lt; 0.05) and the species uniformity index (flatness) also increas. <h3>Conclusion:</h3> Patients with RA had a significant difference in the structure of intestinal flora compared with that of healthy controls, which may represent perturbations of microbial communities and contribute to the pathogenesis and condition of RA. Probiotics can restore the composition of the gut microbiome and introduce beneficial functions to gut microbial communities through diet, probiotics or fecal transplantation, providing a promising prospect for clinical treatment of RA. <h3>References:</h3> [1] Schett I B M a G, The pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. The New England Journal of Medicine, 2011. 365(23): p. Number of 2205–2219. [2] Edwards C J, Commensal gut bacteria and the etiopathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. J Rheumatol, 2008. 35(8): p. Number of 1477-14797. [3] Horta-Baas G, Romero-Figueroa MDS, Montiel-Jarquín AJ, Pizano-Zárate ML, García-Mena J, Ramírez-Durán N. Intestinal Dysbiosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Link between Gut Microbiota and the Pathogenesis of Rheumatoid Arthritis. J Immunol Res. 2017;2017:4835189 <h3>Disclosure of Interests:</h3> None declared