> Some people at risk for the disease have antibodies against this bacteria, and Subdoligranulum activation of T cells was more prevalent in people with RA than in healthy controls.
Very important to qualify (through studies) whether this is the cause of rheumatoid arthritis, or just one of a number of precipitating things. The answer will tell us whether treating/preventing Subdoligranulum is a silver bullet, or whether, like cancer, we have a lot more work to do.
> “It's hard to know how big of a player this specific isolate is,” he said. “It could be the dominant player, and that's why they came across it first. But it could be that if they went back and did larger screens, that they would come up with more — that [Subdoligranulum] would be just one of many.”
> In keeping with this, the researchers only found this Subdoligranulum strain in 16.7 percent of people at risk or with early-stage RA, indicating that this strain is likely not the sole driver of disease.
Regardless, given the results mentioned here, I would bet that "infection" with this strain would exacerbate RA through increased production of antibodies. So it seems a good target to reduce severe RA.
Very important to qualify (through studies) whether this is the cause of rheumatoid arthritis, or just one of a number of precipitating things. The answer will tell us whether treating/preventing Subdoligranulum is a silver bullet, or whether, like cancer, we have a lot more work to do.
> “It's hard to know how big of a player this specific isolate is,” he said. “It could be the dominant player, and that's why they came across it first. But it could be that if they went back and did larger screens, that they would come up with more — that [Subdoligranulum] would be just one of many.”
> In keeping with this, the researchers only found this Subdoligranulum strain in 16.7 percent of people at risk or with early-stage RA, indicating that this strain is likely not the sole driver of disease.
Regardless, given the results mentioned here, I would bet that "infection" with this strain would exacerbate RA through increased production of antibodies. So it seems a good target to reduce severe RA.