Oral Metagenomic Biomarkers in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Completed

Conditions studied: Rheumatoid Arthritis

In brief

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic and potentially severe autoimmune disease affecting 2 million in the United States. The role of environmental factors in modulating autoimmunity pathogenesis has been clearly described and yet the specific mechanisms of action remain poorly understood. A growing body of evidence implicates microbiota of mucosal surfaces in the development of autoimmune disorders. Various studies have clearly linked RA to periodontal disease. The latter is linked to the red-complex that includes the oral bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis. And yet there has not been a systematic analysis of the oral microbiota in RA to determine whether there are specific markers for P. gingivalis (and other oral bacteria) that are linked to RA. In this study, the investigators will characterize oral microbial composition (microbiome) and gene content (metagenome) of DNA isolated from oral samples obtained from patients with (i) early stage RA prior to biologics treatments and (ii) subsets of RA patients who are responsive or unresponsive to anti-TNF-alpha therapy. The innovative aspect of this study is going beyond the identification of oral bacterial species, to the level of strains and genes that are associated with these groups. The overall hypothesis is that oral microbial variation exists between individuals that influences development of autoimmunity and autoimmune disease.

Key facts

Study ID
NCT02544334
Run by
University of Florida
People needed
92
Starts
2016-05-01
Expected to finish
2019-08-08
Last updated by the study team
2019-08-12

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 85. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

You may not qualify if…

Where it is running

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Trial information comes from ClinicalTrials.gov and is refreshed daily. TrialsForMe does not provide medical care and does not run the studies it lists.