The purpose of this work was to identify the features of the gut microbiome in cases of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) testing positive for human leukocyte antigen- (HLA-) B27 and healthy controls (HCs) as well as to determine how bacterial populations were correlated with C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). Fecal DNA extracted from fecal samples from 10 AS cases and 12 HCs was subjected to 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The two research groups did not differ significantly regarding alpha diversity. By comparison to HCs, AS cases displayed a lower relative level of Bacteroidetes (), but a higher level of Firmicutes and Verrucomicrobia (). Furthermore, the correlation between the specific gut bacteria and ESR or CRP was investigated. At the phylum level, Firmicutes and Verrucomicrobia had a positive association with ESR and CRP, while Bacteroidetes exhibited an inverse correlation with ESR and CRP. Meanwhile, in terms of genus, Bacteroides had a positive association with ESR and CRP, whereas Ruminococcus and Parasutterella had an inverse correlation with ESR and CRP, and Helicobacter also displayed an inverse correlation with CRP. Such findings indicated dissimilarities between AS cases and HCs regarding the gut microbiome, as well as the existence of correlations between bacterial populations and both ESR and CRP.

中文翻译：

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强直性脊柱炎病例粪便微生物群与C反应蛋白和红细胞沉降率的关系

这项工作的目的是在强直性脊柱炎 (AS) 检测为人类白细胞抗原 (HLA-) B27 和健康对照 (HC) 阳性的情况下确定肠道微生物组的特征，并确定细菌种群之间的相关性与 C 反应蛋白 (CRP) 和红细胞沉降率 (ESR)。从 10 个 AS 病例和 12 个 HCs 的粪便样本中提取的粪便 DNA 进行 16S rRNA 基因测序。两个研究小组在阿尔法多样性方面没有显着差异。与 HC 相比，AS 病例显示出较低的拟杆菌相对水平（)，但更高水平的厚壁菌和疣微菌 (）。此外，研究了特定肠道细菌与 ESR 或 CRP 之间的相关性。在门水平上，厚壁菌门和疣微菌门与 ESR 和 CRP 呈正相关，而拟杆菌门与 ESR 和 CRP 呈负相关。同时，在属而言，拟杆菌曾与ESR和CRP呈正相关，而瘤胃球菌和Parasutterella曾与ESR和CRP的逆相关，和螺杆菌也显示与CRP的逆相关。这些发现表明 AS 病例和 HC 在肠道微生物组方面存在差异，以及细菌种群与 ESR 和 CRP 之间存在相关性。