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Bolynn t1_iu6xbhm wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Newly discovered species of bacteria in the microbiome may be a culprit behind rheumatoid arthritis by geoxol

Unfortunately that’s very unlikely, as from the moment on there are auto-antibodies there is self-reinforcing mechanism that keeps on producing them (as you still have that auto-antigen in your joints there will be continuous inflammation).

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Teaandcookies2 t1_iu7yntr wrote

Hence why Type 1 diabetes persists after the initial cause- often severe infection- is dealt with, in addition to the profound damage to the pancreas.

However, colonization or infection with such bacteria would likely exacerbate symptoms, since the autoantibodies were originally produced in response to the bacteria and expression would increase on any reinfection or colonial growth.

Autoimmune conditions are immensely tricky at baseline and our understanding of human microbiomes is still so limited that it's hard to say what might happen in either scenario.

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zyl0x t1_iu8q7vn wrote

Do you know this for certain with the RA and PsA antibodies, or are you saying in general that we never lose antibodies? Because the latter is not true.

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Bolynn t1_iu8ubp4 wrote

That’s in autoimmune diseases in general. So in RA you’ve got auto-antibodies against antigens that can be found in your joints. So basically there is an inflammatory trigger in your own body that keeps on reinforcing the production of these antibodies. In PsA autoantibodies don’t play a a big role in the formation of arthritis.

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