Microbiome Research Provides Clue to Rheumatoid Arthritis

“Multiple lines of investigation are focusing on various strategies, including bacteriotherapy (fecal transplant), probiotics, probiotics and bioactives (targeting molecules produced by gut bacteria),” says Dr. Scher. He acknowledges that more studies are needed. That said, Dr. Scher’s work suggests that treatments that focus on curbing the spread of P. copri in the gut may delay or prevent the onset of RA.

Dr. Pullen is a medical writer based in the Chicago area.

Reference
1. Scher JU, Sczesnak A, Longman RS, et al. Expansion of intestinal Prevotella copri correlates with enhanced susceptibility to arthritis. Elife. 2013;2:e01202.

CHICAGO—At the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, Allen C. Steere, MD, delivered the Rheumatology Research Foundation Memorial Lecture honoring the late Charles M. Plotz, MD: Linking Gut Microbial Immunity with Autoimmunity in Joints in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Dr. Steere is professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston, and director of translational research in rheumatology…

The human intestinal microbiota is home to more than 1,000 bacterial species, containing approximately 3 million genes, many of which code for functions that have the potential to affect human physiology.1 Smaller numbers of organisms are also present in the skin, upper gastrointestinal tract, female reproductive tract and the oro- and nasopharynx. As tools have…

New research reinforces the hypothesis that the gut microbiome triggers mucosal and systemic immune responses in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The research, published in Arthritis & Rheumatology May 2017, found that subgroups of patients with RA have differential immunoglobulin G (IgG) or IgA immune reactivity with Prevotella copri, an intestinal microbe that appears to be…

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