Aberrant intestinal microbiota due to IL-1 receptor antagonist deficiency promotes IL-17- and TLR4-dependent arthritis

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of IL-1 receptor signalling and the involvement of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 in defining the intestinal microbiota and the associated mucosal and systemic immune response. Multiplex 454 pyrosequencing of V5 and V6 hyper-variable regions of fecal bacterial 16S rRNA was used to define intestinal microbial communities in BALB/c wild type (WT), IL-1Ra-/- and IL-1Ra/TLR double knock-out (DKO) mice.