Prevotella copri associated with new-onset untreated RA (original) (raw)

Rheumatoid arthritis

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 10, page 2 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

By parallel genetic sequencing the intestinal microbiome, researchers have discovered a high prevalence of the bacteria Prevotella copri in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). “It has been suspected that RA was linked to infections or perhaps even diet, but this is the first finding of an association with a specific microbe,” says Professor Dan Littman about his collaborative study now published in eLife. Previous work using mouse models of arthritis identified that intestinal microbiota can affect inflammation in the joints. Littman explains, “we sought to find out if something similar was going on in human disease.”

Metagenomic analysis revealed that certain microbial genes were linked to the P. copri genomes in patients with NORA. Furthermore, the researchers found an inverse correlation between HLA susceptibility alleles in patients with NORA and the abundance of P. copri detected in their faecal samples. Littman hypothesizes that this is “consistent with P. copri in patients being pathogenic.” Further supporting this view P. copri colonization exacerbated chemical colitis in mice; however, data showing a causal link between P. copri colonization of the gut and joint inflammation is still lacking. Littman concludes, “these remain correlations, and future studies need to be focused on mechanisms, to determine if P. copri has a pathogenic function.”

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 12 print issues and online access

$189.00 per year

only $15.75 per issue

Buy this article

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Additional access options:

References

  1. Scher, J. U. et al. Expansion of intestinal Prevotella copri correlates with enhanced susceptibility to arthritis. eLife 10.7554/eLife.01202

Download references

Authors

  1. Nicholas J. Bernard

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bernard, N. Prevotella copri associated with new-onset untreated RA.Nat Rev Rheumatol 10, 2 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2013.187

Download citation

This article is cited by