An American data biologist has found a surprising link between gingivitis and arthritis by sifting through old records of lab experiments, reports the magazine Science Translational Medicine.
Computers check research results
When Vicky Yao joined an arthritis research project, she immediately started looking at the extensive data sets that biologists at Rockefeller University had collected.
For several years, the biologists had studied which genes are particularly active in people with arthritis in the early stages of the disease.
They had put the tissue samples through a host of tests, and the results were collecting digital dust.
But using Yao’s algorithms, the researchers found a connection they would otherwise have missed.
A specific immune bacteria, which is mainly associated with gingivitis, appears to play an important role in arthritis outbreaks, according to the computer analysis of the large amounts of data.
Immune system can send inflammation from mouth to joints
The researchers aren’t sure exactly how the link between gum disease and arthritis works, but they have an idea.
Periodontitis is the immune system’s response to the accumulation of specific bacteria or large amounts of them on the teeth and gums.
The immune system responds immediately by sending neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) to the area.
These traps, which consist of fibers from white blood cells, trap and neutralize the harmful bacteria.
Once the NET fibers have caught the uninvited guests in their net, the immune system equips them with a kind of molecular identification tag so that the system knows what antibodies to produce if the disease resurfaces.
The researchers suspect that the bacteria with this ‘tag’ can invade the rest of the body if the inflammation in the gums creates an opening in the mucous membrane of the mouth.
The immune system now recognizes the bacteria and immediately produces antibodies to fight them.
The antibodies trigger new inflammation, especially in the tissue around the joints, causing arthritis pain.
2023-08-17 15:05:17
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