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Gut microbiome profiling in systemic sclerosis: a metagenomic approach
T.C. Tan1, L. Chandrasekaran2, Y.Y. Leung3, R. Purbojati4, S. Pettersson5, A.H.L. Low6
- Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Singapore General Hospital, Singapore.
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
- Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Singapore General Hospital, and Duke-National University of Singapore.
- National University of Singapore Information Technology, Singapore.
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, National University of Singapore; Department of Odontology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore, and Sunway University, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Singapore General Hospital, and Duke-National University of Singapore. andrea.low.h.l@singhealth.com.sg
CER16252
2023 Vol.41, N°8
PI 1578, PF 1588
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PMID: 36826808 [PubMed]
Received: 02/10/2022
Accepted : 16/12/2022
In Press: 14/02/2023
Published: 03/08/2023
Abstract
OBJECTIVES:
The early gastrointestinal (GI) manifestation of systemic sclerosis (SSc) suggests a possible GI microbiota engagement in the pathophysiology and/or progression of SSc. Previous studies have revealed dysbiosis among Caucasian SSc patients. This study extends these findings to Asian SSc patients.
METHODS:
Adult SSc patients, stratified according to 1) on immunosuppressive (On-IS) drugs or 2) no immunosuppressive drugs (No-IS), and age-and-sex-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited. Metagenomic sequencing of stool DNA was compared between SSc patients and HC, and between SSc (On-IS) and (No-IS) patients. Alpha and beta-diversity, taxonomic and functional profiling were evaluated.
RESULTS:
Twenty-three female SSc patients (12 On-IS; 11 No-IS; 5 diffuse and 18 limited SSc subtype) and 19 female HC, with median age of 54 years and 56 years, respectively, were recruited. Median SSc disease duration was 3.3 years. Alpha diversity was significantly higher in SSc versus HC (p=0.014) and in SSc (No-IS) versus HC (p=0.006). There was no significant difference in beta diversity between SSc and HC (p=0.307). At the phyla level, there were significantly increased abundance of Firmicutes and Actinobacteria in SSc versus HC, and reduced abundance of Bacteroidetes (all p<0.001). At the species level, there were significantly increased abundance of several Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Coprococcus species in SSc, and increased abundance of Odoribacter, Bacteroides and Prevotella species in HC. KEGG pathway analysis demonstrated distinct differences between SSc versus HC, and between SSc (No-IS) and SSc (On-IS).
CONCLUSIONS:
Using metagenomic sequencing, our study further underlines distinct alterations in microbiota profiling among Asian SSc patients.
