Systemic sclerosis & Raynaud's
International Investigation of the Gut‐Lung Axis in Systemic Sclerosis–Interstitial Lung Disease
Authors' conclusion
This multicenter study demonstrates that distinct intestinal bacterial species are linked to the presence and radiologic extent of ILD in SSc.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) with and without interstitial lung disease (ILD) from seven SSc centres across five continents (mean disease duration 9.8 years)62.5% had ILD
- Participants
- 285 patients
- Exposure
- SSc with ILD vs SSc without ILD
- Outcome
- Intestinal microbial species signature of ILD and association of species and functional pathways with radiologic extent of ILD (QILD) on high-resolution CT
Methodological detailsmulticentre, multinational, shotgun metagenomic sequencing, multivariate sparse partial least squares analyses
- Multicentre
- Multinational
- Shotgun metagenomic sequencing
- Multivariate sparse partial least squares analyses
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Intestinal microbial signature, ILD vs no ILD
- Patients with ILD had a unique microbial signature vs those without ILD, characterised by increased abundance of candidate pathobiont species
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Association of bacterial species and functional pathways with QILD (SSc-ILD subgroup)
- Specific bacterial species and functional pathways were associated with QILD
- Subgroup n = 103
Original publication
International Investigation of the Gut‐Lung Axis in Systemic Sclerosis–Interstitial Lung Disease. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). Published 8 December 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →