Bacteria and human autoimmunity: the case of primary... : Current Opinion in Rheumatology (original) (raw)
Infectious arthritis and immune dysfunction
aDivision of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Clinical Immunology, University of California at Davis, Davis, California, USA, and bDivision of Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Surgery, and Dentistry, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
Correspondence to M. Eric Gershwin, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Clinical Immunology, University of California at Davis, TB 192, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Tel: 530 752 2884; fax 530 752 4669; e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
Purpose of review
Primary biliary cirrhosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the intrahepatic bile ducts that eventually leads to liver cirrhosis and organ failure, in which several observations suggest an autoimmune origin. Similarly to other autoimmune diseases, microbial mediated molecular mimicry is the most widely studied trigger that may break immunologic tolerance in primary biliary cirrhosis.
Recent findings
The hypothesis of a bacterial role in the cause of primary biliary cirrhosis has received recent attention, based on in vitro data and the identification of a unique xenobiotic-metabolizing bacterium that modulates naturally occurring environmental estrogens, namely, Novosphingobium aromaticivorans.
Summary
The evidence indicates that bacteria, through different mechanisms, may precipitate autoimmunity in primary biliary cirrhosis and other autoimmune diseases. These data have several implications.
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