A gut bacteria may trigger rheumatoid arthritis says results of a five-year study
A bacteria has been found in the gut that may cause rheumatoid arthritis in people who are already at risk.
The research group involved hopes experts will soon be able to predict some of the people who may develop rheumatoid arthritis by seeing who has the gut bacteria. Then we could apply prevention strategies via medication. And if we can understand how the bacteria is triggering these immune responses, we might be able to block the bacteria’s ability to do that.
“There are a lot of different technologies that are just starting to come out that could selectively target a bacterium in the gut microbiome, for example, to prevent it from having immunogenic effects on the host,” says Dr Kristine Kuhn who led the five-year study.
“For a long time, people have thought that antibiotics could be a useful therapy for rheumatoid arthritis, but rather than the sledgehammer effect of a traditional antibiotic that’s going to wipe out a large group of bacteria, we might be able selectively target this bacterium or its effects.”
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