13th January 2025 – by TwinsUK
We’re excited to announce that a study building on research from TwinsUK has been shortlisted for the Versus Arthritis Research Highlight of the Year award. This research explores how our gut and saliva microbiomes could revolutionise treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Transforming RA Treatment
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic autoimmune condition that causes inflammation, pain, and stiffness in the joints. Treatments often involve disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs), such as methotrexate or sulfasalazine, which can ease symptoms and slow disease progression. However, finding the right DMARD often involves trial and error, requiring weeks to assess whether a treatment is effective.
Our researchers at TwinsUK aimed to address this challenge by uncovering how the microbiome – the community of bacteria, viruses, and fungi living in our gut and saliva – might predict a patient’s response to DMARDs.
Key Findings
The study analysed data from 144 people newly diagnosed with RA who had not yet started DMARD treatment. Participants provided stool and saliva samples at three time points:
- Before starting DMARDs,
- Six weeks after starting treatment,
- Twelve weeks after starting treatment.
The team found that the microbiome profile before treatment could predict whether a patient would respond well to DMARDs. They also observed that DMARDs appeared to rebalance gut bacteria, which may explain their effectiveness in some patients.
The findings were compared with long-term DMARD users, revealing further changes in the microbiome over time.
Why Does This Matter?
This research marks a significant step toward personalised treatment for RA, where doctors could one day use a simple stool or saliva test to predict how a patient will respond to a specific DMARD. This would save patients from the frustration of trial-and-error approaches and allow healthcare teams to provide tailored care from the outset.
Additionally, the discovery that DMARDs might restore balance to the microbiome offers exciting potential for new therapies that directly target these bacterial communities to improve outcomes.
Thank you
While this work builds on research based on the TwinsUK cohort, the recruits for this study were patients from across the UK, recruited from rheumatology departments in numerous hospitals. We are incredibly grateful to all those who contributed to this study, as your involvement continues to drive research that improves lives and advances our understanding of complex diseases. We’re immensely proud of this work and thankful for your support.
