Study on the effects of conventional and alternative medicine on the gut intestinal Microbiome in Model Arthritis

Conventional (methotrexate) and alternative medicine (acupuncture) have been approved -based on clinical studies-- as therapies for Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease with an increasing incidence and etiopathogenesis still unknown. However, the microorganisms that live inside and on humans (known as the microbiome) are considered to have a profound influence on human. Modeled with rats and collagen induced arthritis, based on high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing data, we explored the specific correlation between the gut intestinal (GI) microbiome and the activity of the immune system during acupuncture or methotrexate treatment on RA.