This is the largest reported case series of CNO patients, showing that the range of associated clinical manifestations is rather heterogeneous. The study confirms that the disease usually presents with an early teenage onset, but it may also occur in adults, even in the absence of mucocutaneous manifestations.
The high levels of IFNγ and of IFNγ-induced chemokines and their correlation with the severity of laboratory abnormalities of MAS suggest a pivotal role of IFNγ in MAS.
Objective
To assess the composition of gut microbiota in Italian and Dutch patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (
JIA
) at baseline, with inactive disease, and with persistent activity compared to healthy controls.
Methods
In a multicenter, prospective, observational cohort study, fecal samples were collected at baseline from 78 Italian and 21 Dutch treatment‐naive
JIA
patients with <6 months of disease duration and compared to 107 geographically matched samples from healthy children. Forty‐four follow‐up samples from patients with inactive disease and 25 follow‐up samples from patients with persistent activity were analyzed. Gut microbiota composition was determined by 16S ribosomal
RNA
–based metagenomics. Alpha‐ and β‐diversity were computed, and log ratios of relative abundance were compared between patients and healthy controls using random forest models and logistic regression.
Results
Baseline samples from Italian patients showed reduced richness compared to healthy controls (
P
< 0.001). Random forest models distinguished between Italian patient baseline samples and healthy controls and suggested differences between Dutch patient samples and healthy controls (areas under the curve >0.99 and 0.71, respectively). The operational taxonomic units (
OTU
s) of
Erysipelotrichaceae
(increased in patients)
, Allobaculum
(decreased in patients), and
Faecalibacterium prausnitzii
(increased in patients) showed different relative abundance in Italian patient baseline samples compared to controls after controlling for multiple comparisons. Some
OTU
s differed between Dutch patient samples and healthy controls, but no evidence remained after controlling for multiple comparisons. No differences were found in paired analysis between Italian patient baseline and inactive disease samples.
Conclusion
Our findings show evidence for dysbiosis in
JIA
patients. Only patient/control status, age, and geographic origin appear to be drivers of the microbiota profiles, regardless of disease activity stage, inflammation, and markers of autoimmunity.
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