Many years ago, I learned about the importance of the microbiome the hard way, by having mine wiped out and replaced with a nasty hellscape of toxic bacteria. Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by all that we don’t know about all the cells we take for granted that are part of our bodies but not our DNA. It’s been underlined by learning about ruminant digestion (they depend on microbiome to digest that cellulose; it’s not in the stomach) and so many other odd studies, like that your microbiome could even be a factor in anxiety.
Today’s interesting article is about a finding that rheumatoid arthritis may be another disease that is related to what organisms are in your gut.
Newly discovered species of bacteria in the microbiome may be a culprit behind rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, but then the question becomes, why does your immune system attack joints? Is it a misguided attack triggered by organisms that we previously considered benign?
We reasoned that though these antibodies were meant to attack the bacteria, rheumatoid arthritis develops when they spread beyond the intestines to attack the joints.
We found that one previously unknown species of bacteria was present in the intestines of around 20% of people who were either diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis or produce the antibodies that cause the disease. As a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, I suggested we name this species Subdoligranulum didolesgii (“didolesgii” means arthritis or rheumatism in Cherokee) as a nod to the contributions that other Indigenous scholars have made to science as well as the fact that rheumatoid arthritis affects Indigenous people at a higher rate than other populations.
Subdoligranulum didolesgii has not been detected in the feces of healthy people before, and it is currently unknown how prevalent this bacteria is in the general population.
We also found that these bacteria can activate specialized immune cells called T cells in people with rheumatoid arthritis. T cells drive inflammatory responses in the body, and have been linked to the development of different autoimmune diseases.
Will be interesting to see the next steps!
