Microbial Symphony: Exploring the Role of the Gut in Osteoarthritis-Related Pain. A Narrative Review

Abstract

One of the most common musculoskeletal disorders, osteoarthritis (OA), causes worldwide disability, morbidity, and poor quality of life by degenerating articular cartilage, modifying subchondral bone, and inflaming synovial membranes. OA pathogenesis pathways must be understood to generate new preventative and disease-modifying therapies. In recent years, it has been acknowledged that gut microbiota (GM) can significantly contribute to the development of OA. Dysbiosis of GM can disrupt the “symphony” between the host and the GM, leading to a host immunological response that activates the “gut–joint” axis, ultimately worsening OA. This narrative review summarizes research supporting the “gut–joint axis” hypothesis, focusing on the interactions between GM and the immune system in its two main components, innate and adaptive immunity. Furthermore, the pathophysiological sequence of events that link GM imbalance to OA and OA-related pain is broken down and further investigated. We also suggest that diet and prebiotics, probiotics, nutraceuticals, exercise, and fecal microbiota transplantation could improve OA management and represent a new potential therapeutic tool in the light of the scarce panorama of disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs (DMOADs). Future research is needed to elucidate these complex interactions, prioritizing how a particular change in GM, i.e., a rise or a drop of a specific bacterial strain, correlates with a certain OA subset to pinpoint the associated signaling pathway that leads to OA.