Gut dysbiosis and inflammation in patients with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis-Enthesitis Related Arthritis: impact of HLA-B27 status

ABSTRACT

HLA-B27 is a susceptibility factor for enthesitis-related arthritis. HLA-B27 transgenic rats do not develop disease in a germ-free state, suggesting involvement of the gut in the pathogenesis of the disease. There is limited data on the effect of HLA-B27 carriage and gut flora in JIA-ERA.Stool samples from 10 HLA-B27-positive and 5 HLA-B27-negative JIA-ERA patients, and 10 HLA-B27-negative healthy controls were collected after consent. Fecal calprotectin and serum LPS levels were measured using ELISA. The fecal flora was assessed using 16S rRNA based sequencing.HLA-B27-positive patients had higher fecal calprotectin levels (p