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Abstract
Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disorder in which aberrant immune responses to the intestinal microbiota are thought to drivepathogenesis. The HLA-B27 transgenic rat is a foremost translational model of disease, with rats expressing the major human risk allele for AS. We have shown previously the IgA response to gut microbes is strongly elevated in this model, but the specificity of this response remains unclear. Here we used the novel IgA-SEQ technique to test the hypothesis that HLA-B27 expression alters the microbial repertoire of the intestinal IgA response.