Bacteria in human body have all kinds of positive effects on our health, the bacteria in the gut have many beneficial functions. They help in digestion, prevent infection by pathogens and strengthen immune system to fight diseases.
A new function of a protein in the gut microbiome reveals potential impacts for those who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease IBD. A protein expressed by gut bacteria called Bacteroides works to prevent IBD by rapidly recruiting white blood cells to kill a cell of the immune system that is responsible for orchestrating IBD.
However, there is a flipside to the protein’s call for help. In some people, the white blood cells overreact to the presence of the IBD bacteria. This is what causes problems like IBD, it’s not the bacteria itself, but the immune system’s severe reaction triggered by the protein.
These same overstimulated white blood cells are also the cells that cause other autoimmune disorders like diabetes, this discovery demonstrates the effect the gut microbiome has on the immune system and unearths a novel mechanism through which changes in the gut microbiome can increase the risk of autoimmune disorders.
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