Novel and known periodontal pathogens residing in gingival crevicular fluid are associated with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Background: Periodontitis is a suspected environmental risk factor for the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, correlation mechanisms between the two pathologies remain elusive. This study examined potential correlations between detached subgingival bacteria collected in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and RA parameters. Methods: RA patients (n = 52, F:M = 40:12), patients with Behcet's disease (BD, n = 40, F:M = 29:11) as another systemic inflammatory disease were studied along with a systemically healthy control group (HC, n = 57, F:M = 40:17). All participants were non-smokers. Full mouth periodontal parameters were recorded. RA activity was assessed using the 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS-28). Rheumatoid factors (RFs)-IgM and-IgA were measured by ELISA. GCF samples were investigated by means of fluorescent in situ hybridization for 10 different bacterial taxa. Results: The taxa TM7, Synergistetes cluster B, Leptotrichia, Megasphaera, Anaeroglobus geminatus, and Tannerella forsythia displayed significantly differential abundances between the groups. Whereas abundances of Megasphaera and A. geminatus were significantly increased in the RA group, only Porphyromonas gingivalis displayed significant correlations with plaque scores, bleeding on probing, and RF-IgA. RA patients displaying RF-IgA levels >75 IU/mL exhibited five-fold more abundant P. gingivalis levels than patients below the threshold. This association with RF-IgA levels appeared even more pronounced, by six-fold more P. gingivalis (P = 0.025), in patients with a DAS-28 score >3.2, indicative of moderate/very active RA. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The Relationship Between Porphyromonas Gingivalis and Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Meta-Analysis

“…A study from the USA reported a positive relationship between P. gingivalis and periodontal diseases ( Mikuls et al., 2012 ). Also, it revealed that P. gingivalis was the most potent predictor of periodontal diseases among adolescents ( Janssen et al., 2015 ; Manoil et al., 2021 ). The importance of our findings of a higher correlation rate of P. gingivalis in RA compared to healthy tissue is uncertain ( Rodriguez et al., 2021 ).…”

Microbial Characteristics of Common Tongue Coatings in Patients with Precancerous Lesions of the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract

“…Therefore, the tongue-coating type is closely related to RA activity. Previous studies found that the abundance of Actinomyces and Campylobacter in RA patients was significantly higher than that in healthy controls [ 48 , 49 ]. The aforementioned results suggest that Leptotrichia and Campylobacter could be promising biomarkers of yellow coating and are related to the hot syndrome.…”

Veillonellae: Beyond Bridging Species in Oral Biofilm Ecology

“…Figure 1 shows typical photomicrographs of two Veillonella species as observed under differential interference contrast (DIC) and epifluorescence microscopy using fluorescent probes targeting the 16S rRNA. The genus stems from the Order Veillonellales that also includes the genera Dialister, Megasphaera , and Anaeroglobus , which have been recently proposed as putative periodontopathogens [ 42 , 43 ]. Recognized human oral Veillonella species include: Veillonella parvula, Veillonella dispar, V. atypica, Veillonella denticariosi (reportedly enriched in carious dentine), Veillonella rogosae (reportedly enriched in caries-free individuals), Veillonella tobetsuensis (often isolated form the tongue), Veillonella infantium and Veillonella nakazawae [ 32 , 33 , 38 ].…”