lassesen 4:35 am on April 11, 2018  

Is Arthrosis a microbiome condition?

A reader messaged me because a member of their family has just gotten a diagnosis of arthrosis. They asked if it could be caused by the microbiome? Arthritis  affect your bones, ligaments, and joints. Often this means joint stiffness and pain.

Arthritis is an umbrella term describing several conditions. It includes:

  • osteoarthritis (OA) also known as arthrosis
  • rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and
  • gout.

There are many conditions that distinctive microbiome profiles have been discovered. If you have a uBiome done, I have created pages to compare the ubiome against the published profiles. One of these is rheumatoid arthritis, as shown below (you must have uploaded ubiome to see the results)

ra

The studies used for this page included:

A quick search on PubMed found significant research in this direction for osteoarthritis.

I was unable to find studies reporting a specific microbiome profile for osteoarthritis.

For Gout, we find:

  • Combined Signature of the Fecal Microbiome and Metabolome in Patients with Gout.
    • “The signatures of microbiome showed being up-regulation of opportunistic pathogens, such as Bacteroides, Porphyromonadaceae Rhodococcus, Erysipelatoclostridium and Anaerolineaceae”
    • “The LefSe method revealed that the phylum Bacteroidetes and its derivative (Bacteroidia, Bacteroidales, Bacteroidaceae as well as Bacteroidales S24_7 group and Porphyromonadaceae), the phylum Chloroflexi and its derivatives (Anaerolineae, Anaerolineales, and Anaerolineaceae), the order Corynebacteriales and its derivative (Nocardiaceae and Rhodococcus), the class Erysipelotrichia and its derivatives (Erysipelotrichales, Erysipelotrichaceae and Erysipelatoclostridium), and the class Negativicutes and its derivative (Selenomonadales) were all higher in the intestinal microbiota from the gout patients. Conversely, the family Vibrionaceae and its derivatives (Photobacterium and Vibrio), the genus Coprococcus 3, Lachnospiraceae NC2004 group, Lachnospiraceae UCG_005, Ruminococcaceae NK4A214 group and Ruminococcaceae UCG_011 were all lower in the intestinal microbiota from the gout patients.”
    • Additionally the metabolites (KEGG) found significant differences.
      Gout

Bottom Line

All of the different types of Arthritis appear to have distinctive profiles according to published studies. There are also metabolite shifts (since these are produced by bacteria — this is expected). Metabolites are the supplies for the body.

One item was very significant — two people may have similar metabolites shifts, and thus the same diagnosis — BUT have different bacteria causing this shift.  If the person has high or low Akkermansia muciniphila,will determine if they have a positive or negative response to Chondroitin Sulfate. This later reality is what I have started to suspect for all of the microbiome caused conditions:

  • The symptoms are caused by the metabolite shifts.
    • There may be many combinations of bacteria shifts that can cause a similar  metabolite shift.

This is an education post to facilitate discussing this approach with your medical professionals. It is not medical advice for the treatment of any medical condition. Always consult with your medical professional before doing any  changes of diet, supplements or activity. Some items cites may interfere with prescription medicines.