Variations in gut microbial profiles in ankylosing spondylitis: disease phenotype-related dysbiosis

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) refers to a group of disease with overlapping clinical features and pathogenic mechanisms, yet with important clinical and outcome differences, including psoriatic arthritis (PsA), arthritis related to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), reactive arthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (1). The exact pathogenesis of SpA remains unknown, however, growing evidence implicated that SpA is the consequence of a complex interaction between genetic polymorphisms and environmental factors (2,3)