Certain Bacteria May Drive Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Recent findings presented by researchers at Yale University show that a handful of bacterial culprits may be the driving force of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

"A handful of bad bacteria are able to attain access to the immune system and get right at the gut," said Richard Flavell, the Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine, in a news release. "If you look at the bacteria to which we have made an immune response, you can begin to find these bad actors."

For the study, researchers focused on the antibody coatings on the surface of bacteria to find high contractions of an antibody coating known as Immunoglobulin A (IgA).

"The coating is our body's attempt to neutralize the bacteria," Flavell added. "It binds to the bad bacteria. We only make these IgA responses to a limited number of organisms."

Researchers confirmed a correlation between the high levels of IgA coating and inflammatory responses in the human intestine. Next, they collected "good" and "bad" bacteria from a small group of patients that was transplanted into healthy mice that had no influence on intestinal inflammation. In mice with induced colitis, those with the suspected "bad" bacteria exhibited symptoms of excessive inflammation and other IBD symptoms.

Though more research will be necessary to gauge how many bacterial species fall into the "bad" category, many populations are common to all IBD patients and are unique to each patient.

"We believe an anti-bacterial strategy has a place in treating IBD," Flavell concluded.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Cell.