Symptoms Compatible with Rome IV Functional Bowel Disorder in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis

Frequency of irritable bowel syndrome in spondyloarthritis: a multicentric cross-sectional study and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the prevalence of symptoms and factors associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in axial spondyloarthritis (ax-SpA).

METHODS

In a cross-sectional multicentric study, consecutive patients with ax-SpA treated with biologics in five rheumatology departments were asked for IBS Rome IV criteria. Demographic data, lifestyle behaviours and disease characteristics were recorded. Second, a systematic literature review and meta-analysis were performed following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

RESULTS

Of the 500 patients with ax-SpA included, 124 reported IBS symptoms (25%). Female gender, unemployment, higher Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) and worse Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index scores, multiple lines of biologics, fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression and lower physical activity were associated with IBS symptoms. In multivariate model, the risk of IBS was associated with anxiety and physical inactivity. From the literature review, the prevalence of IBS in patients with SpA was 15.4% (8.8% to 23.3%). Meta-analysis of the five studies comparing the presence of IBS in patients with SpA (323/7292) and healthy controls (484/35587) showed a significant increase of IBS in patients with SpA (OR=1.59 (1.05 to 2.40)).

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of IBS symptoms was high in the ax-SpA population and should therefore be considered in the presence of gastrointestinal disorders. The presence of IBS symptoms was associated with anxiety and low physical activity in multivariate analysis. Patients with IBS symptoms tended to have more difficult to manage disease characterised by higher activity, worse functional score and multiple lines of treatment in univariate analysis.

Dietary Fiber Intake Influences Changes in Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Status

The objectives of this study were to characterize dietary fiber (DF) intake in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS), to assess whether DF intake affects disease activity in AS, and to investigate the effect of DF intake on disease activity in AS in the context of functional bowel disease (FBD) symptoms. We recruited 165 patients with AS and divided them into two groups according to whether they had a high DF intake > 25 g/d to investigate the characteristics of people with high DF intake. Some 72 of the 165 AS patients (43%) met the criteria for high DF intake, which was more common in patients with negative FBD symptoms (68%). Data analysis revealed that DF intake was negatively associated with AS disease activity and did not differ statistically significantly from FBD symptoms. Multivariate adjusted models were used to explore the effect of DF intake on AS disease activity. ASDAS-CRP and BASDAI were stable and negatively correlated across models in both groups with and without FBD symptoms. Thus, DF intake positively affected disease activity in patients with AS. ASDAS-CRP and BASDAI were negatively correlated with DF intake.

Bioinformatics Analysis of Immune Cell Infiltration and Diagnostic Biomarkers between Ankylosing Spondylitis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Background

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are both autoimmune diseases, and they often occur together in clinical practice, but the pathogenesis is unclear. This study is aimed at identifying the hub genes and explore the related immune molecular mechanisms between AS and IBD by bioinformatics analysis.

Methods

From the public Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, the AS and IBD datasets (GSE73754, GSE59071, GSE25101, and GSE36807) were obtained. The immune cell infiltration in the peripheral blood tissues of GSE73754 and GSE59071 was assessed using the CIBERSORT algorithm. Then, we used the Weighted Gene Coexpression Network Analysis (WGCNA) to identify the Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) related to AS and IBD. Then, the immune genes from the ImmPort database intersected with the DEGs to obtain hub genes. The Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyzed the functional correlation of hub genes. Then, hub genes were verified in GSE25101 and GSE36807. The clusterProfiler software and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) were used to conduct functional enrichment and pathway enrichment studies. Finally, the diagnostic efficacy was assessed using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

Results

The analysis of immune characteristics showed that both AS and IBD were related to immunity, and neutrophils were positively correlated in both diseases. Nine coexpressed genes, including FCGRT, S100A11, IFNGR1, NFKBIZ, JAK2, LYN, PLAUR, ADM, and IL1RN, were linked to immune cells. The GO and KEGG analyses results showed that enrichment analysis was mainly related to cell transport and migration. Finally, the ROC curve was verified with the validation set, and it was found that PLAUR has clinical diagnostic significance and the most excellent specificity and sensitivity, respectively.

Conclusions

PLAUR (uPAR) is a promising biomarker and will be an underlying genetic biomarker for diagnosing AS comorbid IBD. Inflammation and immunological modulation mediated by neutrophil infiltration were important in the development of AS and IBD and may be diagnostic and therapeutic targets.

Case report: Fecal microbiota transplantation in refractory ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is the prototype of a group of systemic inflammatory diseases referred to as spondyloarthritis. Comorbid inflammatory bowel disease and changed gut microbiota in AS have attracted attention to the influence of gut-joint axis and encouraged treating AS by targeting gut microbiota. Here we first reported a patient with refractory AS and comorbid ulcerative colitis (UC) who underwent three fecal microbiota transplantations (FMTs). Inadequate response to conventional treatments including tumor necrosis factor inhibitors impelled FMT as alternative therapy. Notable improvements in AS and UC accompanied with changed fecal microbiota were recorded at 1 week post-FMT1. Further recovery was found after the other two FMTs, and a roughly stable status was maintained in the follow-up period. More studies are needed to validate the effectiveness of FMT in AS and its mechanisms.