Bacterial biofilms may play a role in onset of lupus – new discovery

Bacterial communities seem to be involved in the development of the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus, a finding that may provide important clues about several other autoimmune diseases too, says research in Immunity.
We already know that infection is associated with lupus flares. But now experts have found that particular bacterial communities in the gut (otherwise known as biofilms) can provoke the onset of lupus in lupus-prone mice.
“This work stresses the importance of considering infections as a possible trigger for lupus,” explains Dr Stefania Gallucci, one of the lead researcher. “Very little was known about how biofilms interact with the immune system because most of the research has been looking at how biofilms protect bacteria, how they make bacteria resistant to antimicrobials such as antibiotics, but almost nothing was known about what biofilms do to the immune response.”
The next step will be to explore how these composites stimulate autoimmunity.
“The beneficial bacteria found in our guts can cause problems when they cross the intestinal barrier and reach to places they shouldn’t be,” Dr Çagla Tükel says. “Thus, besides infectious bacteria, a leaky gut could cause many problems. We are now starting to understand how the bacteria in our gut may trigger complex human diseases including lupus. So it’s critical for us to understand the biology of the bacterial communities and their interactions with the immune system.”

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Image credit: Andrew Stafford