We already know that the bacteria that live on and within us are far more than just inert rider . They interact with our cells and are associated with a whole legion of consideration and disease . Now , researchers think that our microbiome might also play a role in the autoimmune disease lupus .
Currently , there is no therapeutic forsystemic lupus erythematosus , or lupus for short . It pass when the body ’s immune system goes out of whack and starts attacking healthy tissue paper , make joint problems , tiredness , skin rash , and in serious pillow slip kindle kidneys , lungs , and even the brain . It is still not in full understood what make it , but a new subject field issue inScience Translational Medicinefinds that the bacteria inside us might at least contribute to it .
We already know that when lupus flare out up , the resistant system turns on the body and startle round Ro60 , a protein that is also known to be produced by some bacterium exist in soil . The researchers therefore make up one’s mind to wait to see if the bacteria in mass also get this protein , and it turns out they do . What is more , for those with lupus , Ro60 seemingly trigger an immune answer .
They then took bacteria that produce a exchangeable protein to Ro60 and put it in mice bred without a microbiome . The result was that the mouse developed signs of kidney failure , a similar response to what happens to people with lupus .
“ We do n’t really know what causes lupus , but it is thought to be a compounding of genetics , environment and hormones , ” Martin Kriegel , from Yale School of Medicine , toldNew Scientist .
From these experimentation , they suspect that those who have lupus have an underlying genetic susceptibleness to Ro60 , and so when the bacteria bring forth it , their immune arrangement goes into overdrive .
While we ca n’t – for the prison term being at least – change the genetics , we can alter the community of bacteria living within someone . This is appear like it could become the best style to treat patient role with lupus , although as Kriegel channelise out , we ’re still not there yet .
Current antibiotics to treat the catgut microbiome are simply too general to be of much employment here . What the researchers are now hoping to explore is a far more targeted drug that precisely hits only the bacteria make the protein and nothing else .
