Fig. 4

RA BAL microbiota correlations with local/systemic autoimmunity, inflammatory markers, and clinical disease activity. The relative abundance of BAL taxa (genus level) was assessed for correlations with disease activity score (DAS28), the levels of serum acute phase reactants and autoantibodies (including number of fine specificities), and BAL levels of anti-CCP2 and immune cells (%). The heat map shows the correlations between patient metadata and BAL microbiota at the genus level. Circle sizes and color intensity represent the magnitude of correlation. Blue circles = positive correlations; red circles = negative correlations. CRP C-reactive protein, NEFS number of ELISA ACPA fine specificities