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Rheumatoid arthritis

Pre-RA autoantibodies recognize arthritogenic gut bacterium

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 19, page 1 (2023)Cite this article

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New research provides evidence for the mucosal-origins hypothesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by identifying a bacterial strain that produces a systemic immune response in individuals at risk of RA. This strain can directly induce an arthritic response in germ-free mice, suggesting a causal association with RA.

Peripheral expansion of IgA-producing and IgG-producing plasmablasts with shared clonality can occur in seropositive individuals. Researchers have now isolated these antibodies from individuals at risk of RA or with early RA. They selected the RA-relevant antibodies that recognized citrullinated antigens, and made a library of the variable regions from 94 of them. In a flow cytometry assay using pooled faeces from healthy donors and from those at risk of RA or with early RA, 58 of the antibodies in the library bound to gut bacteria, and >50% of those bacteria were from the related Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae families.

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References

Original article

  • Chriswell, M. E. et al. Clonal IgA and IgG autoantibodies from individuals at risk for rheumatoid arthritis identify an arthritogenic strain of Subdoligranulum. Sci. Transl. Med. 14, eabn5166 (2022)

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Related article

  • Holers, V. M. et al. Rheumatoid arthritis and the mucosal origins hypothesis: protection turns to destruction. Nat. Rev. Rheumatol. 14, 542–557 (2018)

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  1. Nature Reviews Rheumatology http://www.nature.com/nrrheum/

    Robert Phillips

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  1. Robert Phillips
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Correspondence to Robert Phillips.

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Phillips, R. Pre-RA autoantibodies recognize arthritogenic gut bacterium. Nat Rev Rheumatol 19, 1 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41584-022-00884-3

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