Do bacteria cause arthritis? New study can turn tide on autoimmune diseases

Unique gut bacteria can cause rheumatoid arthritis in people at risk, say scientists at the University of Colorado.

In an earlier study, they found that the presence of specific antibodies in the blood could identify people at risk for rheumatoid arthritis years before they were diagnosed. In the new work, an article from which was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the scientists found that these were not autoimmune antibodies, but antibodies to a bacterium that lives in the gut.

Mice prone to the disease were given "rheumatoid" bacteria, which also resulted in the animals having markers of rheumatoid arthritis, that is, antibodies to the microbe.

The authors also found that the immune system of people with rheumatoid arthritis reacted to this bacteria, while the immunity of healthy people ignored it. The authors' work could completely overturn ideas about the development of autoimmune diseases, and help develop a drug that acts not on the effects of rheumatoid arthritis, but on its cause.

If a unique species of bacteria does cause the immune response that leads to rheumatoid arthritis in people at risk, it would be possible to target the microbes with drugs to prevent the disease.

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