E. Coli Linked to Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Billy Goat Gruff III
Tue Feb 5,12:00 PM ET
By Nicolle Charbonneau
HealthScoutNews Reporter
TUESDAY, Feb. 5 (HealthScoutNews) -- An intestinal infection caused by
strains of a common bacterium may be linked to the development of
inflammatory bowel disease, a new study says.
French researchers report that a heightened immune interaction between
Escherichia coli and the cells lining the intestine may result in the
symptoms experienced by people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
They suggest their work indicates antibiotics might be a useful tool
when treating IBD.
The findings appear in today's issue of the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences.
IBD refers to a group of conditions that cause inflammation of the
intestinal tract. The group includes Crohn's disease, irritable bowel
syndrome and ulcerative colitis.
Symptoms of these disorders include changes in bowel habits,
particularly diarrhea, as well as abdominal pain, fever, joint pain
and skin lesions.
IBD affects approximately 2 million Americans, with symptoms generally
appearing in a person's 20s or 30s. There is evidence that a
predisposition to these conditions can be inherited, with the diseases
being particularly common in people of eastern European and Jewish
descent.
A research team led by Dr. Antoine Toubert suggests that in
genetically susceptible people, the immune system's response to
bacteria could trigger the inflammation associated with these
diseases.
Toubert, an associate professor of immunology and histocompatibility
at the Hôpital Saint-Louis in Paris, studied this response in two
laboratory-cultured strains of human cells.
The researchers found that when certain strains of E. coli bind to a
molecule called CD55 on the surface of cells lining the interior of
the intestine using a protein called afaE, it causes a sudden increase
in production of an immune molecule called MICA.
The boosted MICA levels prompt "natural killer" (NK) immune cells to
release gamma interferon. This protein triggers the production of
immune cells called macrophages, which the researchers suspect could
be linked to the chronic inflammation associated with this digestive
disorder.
"We believe that it could be one of the parameters … which could
increase and perpetuate the local inflammation in the bowel," says
Toubert.
His team also examined samples of colon tissue surgically removed from
18 patients with Crohn's disease and compared them to normal colon
tissue removed during colon cancer surgery. They found increased MICA
production in the cells taken from patients with Crohn's disease,
compared to the normal colon tissue samples.
He suspects other bacteria may have the same effect. "We have seen
this effect with [diffusely adherent] E. coli, but it may be the case
for other strains which we have not tested," he says.
Dr. R. Balfour Sartor, a professor of medicine, microbiology and
immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studies
the relationship between bacteria and inflammatory bowel disease.
"They're establishing a possible mechanism by which a bacteria that
adheres to the surface of an [intestinal lining] cell could then
activate a response in NK cells," as well as certain classes of cells
that mediate immunity, says Sartor.
He says the findings, while consistent with animal studies of a
bacterial agent stimulating inflammation that could potentially lead
to IBD, don't show that this type of inflammation occurs only in IBD.
However, he notes that studies have shown that a high percentage of
IBD patients showing early reactivation of disease after surgery have
a form of E.coli in their system.
Toubert stresses these findings are preliminary, but says it may
indicate that antibiotic treatments in some patients with IBD would be
beneficial.
According to Sartor, "it's clear that antibiotics do have a role in
treating Crohn's patients, particularly those that have colonic
involvement." The antibiotics Flagyl (metronidazole) and Cipro
(ciprofloxacin) are most commonly used, he says, but he notes Flagyl
doesn't affect E. coli, suggesting other bacterial agents are at work.
Toubert now plans to carry out more detailed studies of immune cells
from inflammatory lesions in the intestinal lining of IBD patients.
What To Do
The National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases
provides this information on Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome
and ulcerative colitis.
You can also check out this information from the Crohn's & Colitis
Foundation of America.
Please Visit www.ibdcure.com and sign the petition for an IBD postage stamp.
All opinions expressed are mine unless otherwise noted.
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"those that can be offended, will be" ... Pastor Don
Donna C
Donna
"Billy Goat Gruff III" <Troll...@for-romance.com> wrote in message
news:3c61594a...@192.168.0.1...
> "We believe that it could be one of the parameters . which could
mickey
the same category as IBD. IBS is similar to IBD in symptoms but
WITHOUT noticeable inflammation or any other intestinal pathology,
hence the diagnosis IBS.
Unless, of course, the world of digestive diseases just got turned on
its ear I didnt know it?
Mickey
Troll...@for-romance.com (Billy Goat Gruff III) wrote in message news:<3c61594a...@192.168.0.1>...
> "We believe that it could be one of the parameters … which could