Both genetic pre-disposition and potential environmental triggers are shared between Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Crohn’s disease (CD). The authors hypothesised that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the negative T-cell regulators Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Nonreceptor type 2 and 22 (PTPN2/22) lead to the dysregulated immune response as seen in RA and CD.
This is the first study to report the correlation between SNPs in PTPN2/22, IFN-y expression and MAP in autoimmune disease.
This recent paper from pathologist Ellen Pierce describes links between MAP and brain tumours.
An increased rate of brain cancers has been noted in livestock farmers in Western countries. Some researchers have suggested that a zoonotic virus or bacteria present in the livestock animal’s feces or manure may be a possible etiologic factor. Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), the cause of a chronic enteropathy in domestic livestock and a probable zoonosis, is heavily excreted in an infected animal’s feces or manure, contaminating soil and ground on the animal’s farm. Once excreted in an animal’s feces, MAP lasts indefinitely in a dormant but viable form, and easily spreads outside farms to the surrounding environment. MAP’s presence throughout the soil in countries where MAP infection of domestic livestock is extensive and long-standing may explain the increased rates of glioblastoma in tennis and baseball players who handle balls coated with MAP-contaminated dirt.
Read the article here.
A new paper from Juste et al in Spain, which gives an excellent overview of the history of chronic regional intestinal inflammatory diseases (CRIID) and a useful assessment of where we are now.
From the abstract: Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis in humans and paratuberculosis in domestic and wild ruminants can be defined as chronic regional intestinal inflammatory diseases (CRIID). This review is a literature overview on these diseases in humans, non-human primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, equids and ruminants with a focus on pathological and microbiological features aimed identifying common characteristics that could lead to a unified pathological classification for a better understanding of their mechanisms and causes. The result is a framework of inflammatory forms throughout the different species indicative of common mechanisms of the slow infection type characterized by a time course varying from weeks to months or even years, and where the inflammatory component would be more prominent in the intestinal interface between host and environment… This should provide new insights for causation demonstration and therapeutic approaches in human IBD.
The Jenner Institute, part of the University of Oxford, is looking for healthy volunteers to take part in a trial testing the safety and immunogenicity of the second component of the Crohn’s MAP Vaccine. If you are aged 18-50 and are in good health you may be eligible to participate. Volunteers are compensated approximately £300-£530 (depending on trial group) for their time and travel during the study period of 3-5 months. To find out more, visit https://www.jenner.ac.uk/hav001-vaccine-trial.
Gut bacteria have been linked to a range of diseases, including autoimmune conditions characterised by immune system attack of healthy tissue. To shed light on this link, a Yale research team focused on Enterococcus gallinarum, a bacterium they discovered is able to spontaneously “translocate” outside of the gut to lymph nodes, the liver, and spleen. The researchers found that the autoimmune reaction can be suppressed with an antibiotic or vaccine designed to target the bacteria. This research supports the principle of using therapeutic vaccines to treat autoimmune diseases that are associated with (or possibly caused by) bacterial infections.
