New microbial cause found in another AI disease - PBC

[Zizzle]

This page on the Lupus Research Institute website is fascinating, because it shows current research into various theories of autoimmunity.

http://www.lupusresearchinstitute.org/l ... ch/topic/4

Given my abnormal liver autoantibodies, this article peaked my interest:

Liver autoimmunity triggered by microbial activation of natural killer T cells.
Cell Host Microbe. 2008 May 15;3(5):304-15.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1847 ... d_RVDocSum

Humans with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), a disease characterized by the destruction of small bile ducts, exhibit signature autoantibodies against mitochondrial Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex E2 (PDC-E2) that crossreact onto the homologous enzyme of Novosphingobium aromaticivorans, an ubiquitous alphaproteobacterium.

In May 2008’s Cell Host & Microbe, Dr. Mattner and co-authors illustrate how the common gut bacterium Novosphingobium triggers autoimmune liver disease in mice. They show how the bacterium, due to its unique cell wall antigens, activates specialized immune system white blood cells that provide help for autoreactive B cells.
When extended to humans, the findings imply that straightforward antibiotic treatments might prevent or halt the autoimmune process in genetically susceptible individuals.

PubMed then pointed me to a more recent 2012 study, where the researchers were looking for factors that lead to PBC, but came up short on smoking guns. They did learn that first degree relatives have a greater chance of getting it. Had they read the 2008 article, they might have concluded that families may share these same microbes.

Primary biliary cirrhosis in a genetically homogeneous population: disease associations and familial occurrence rates

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22898439

Dyslipidaemia and autoimmune diseases were significantly increased not only in patients as expected but also in their FDR. An increased prevalence of malignancies was found in patients. Primary educational level, cholecystectomy and the presence of at least another autoimmune disease were found as putative risk factors for PBC. No association was found with smoking, urinary tract infection or reproductive history. The reported high familial occurrence of PBC could imply screening with AMA of FDR with at least another autoimmune disease.

More about this microbe, which seems to be everywhere, and acts opportunistically:

http://genome.jgi-psf.org/novar/novar.home.html