Vaahtovuo J et al. – Findings presented in this study support the hypothesis that intestinal microbes participate in the etiopathogenesis of RA. Methods
Aim was to compare the composition of intestinal microbiota of pts with early RA or fibromyalgia (FM)
Fecal samples were collected from 51 pts with RA and 50 with FM (disease was ≤ 6 mos)
Pts having extreme diets or previous DMARDs or glucocorticoid medication were excluded
Pts taking antibiotics or having gastroenteritis for at least 2 mos prior to sampling were also excluded
Fecal bacterial composition was analyzed with a method based on flow cytometry, 16S rRNA hybridization, and DNA-staining
A set of 8 oligonucleotide probes was used
Results
In comparison to pts with FM, the RA pts had less bifidobacteria and bacteria of the Bacteroides-Porphyromonas-Prevotella group, Bacteroides fragilis subgroup, and Eubacterium rectale - Clostridium coccoides group
Results from the 8 probes showed an overall difference between the 2 patient groups, indicating widespread microbial differences
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