Analysis of gut microbiome composition, function, and phenotype in patients with osteoarthritis

Gut microbiome (GMB) disturbance can induce chronic low-grade inflammation, which is closely related to the occurrence and development of osteoarthritis (OA). However, the relationship between GMB and OA remains unclear. In this study, we collected stool samples from OA patients and healthy people, and performed Alpha diversity, Beta diversity, MetaStat, and LEfSe analysis by 16S rRNA sequencing to find out the species with significant difference between the two groups. Random forest analysis was performed to find out biomarkers that could distinguish between OA patients and healthy people. PICRUSt and Bugbase analysis were used to compare the difference in functions and phenotypes. Multivariate linear regression analysis (MaAsLin) was used to adjust for gender, age, and body mass index (BMI). The results showed that there was a significant difference in the overall composition of GMB between the two groups ( = 0.005). After adjusting for gender, age, and BMI, we found that p_ ( = 0.039), c_ ( = 0.039), and o_ ( = 0.040) were enriched in the OA group, while s_ ( = 0.001) was enriched in the healthy control group. could distinguish between OA patients and healthy people with a better diagnostic power (AUC = 77.5%,