Newly discovered species of bacteria in the microbiome may be a culprit behind rheumatoid arthritis
By Meagan Chriswell, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Aurora (The Conversation)(PTI): Rheumatoid arthritis affects 1 in 100 people worldwide. It causes inflamed, painful and swollen joints, often in the hands and wrists, and can lead to loss of joint function as well as chronic pain and joint deformities and damage.
What causes this condition has been unknown.
In our recently published study, my colleagues and I found an important clue to a potential culprit behind this disease: the bacteria in your gut.
What causes rheumatoid arthritis?
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition, meaning it develops when the body's immune system starts to attack itself. Proteins called antibodies, which usually help fight off viruses and bacteria, begin to attack the joints instead.
The origins of the antibodies that cause rheumatoid arthritis have been an area of study for many years.
Some research has shown that these antibodies can start forming at sites like the mouth, lung and intestines over 10 years before symptoms arise.
But until now, it was unclear why researchers were finding these antibodies in these particular areas.
We wanted to investigate what could trigger the formation of these antibodies. Specifically, we wondered if bacteria in the microbiome, a community of microorganisms that live in the intestines, might be the ones activating the immune response that leads to rheumatoid arthritis.
Since microbes commonly live at the same sites as the antibodies driving rheumatoid arthritis, we hypothesised that these bacteria could be triggering the production of these antibodies.
We reasoned that though these antibodies were meant to attack the bacteria, rheumatoid arthritis develops when they spread beyond the intestines to attack the joints.
First, we sought to identify the intestinal bacteria targeted by these antibodies. To do this, we exposed the bacteria in the feces of a subset of people at risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis to these antibodies, allowing us to isolate just the bacterial species that reacted and bound to the antibodies.
We found that one previously unknown species of bacteria was present in the intestines of around 20 per cent of people who were either diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis or produce the antibodies that cause the disease.
As a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, I suggested we name this species Subdoligranulum didolesgii ( didolesgii means arthritis or rheumatism in Cherokee) as a nod to the contributions that other Indigenous scholars have made to science as well as the fact that rheumatoid arthritis affects Indigenous people at a higher rate than other populations.
Subdoligranulum didolesgii has not been detected in the feces of healthy people before, and it is currently unknown how prevalent this bacteria is in the general population.
We also found that these bacteria can activate specialised immune cells called T cells in people with rheumatoid arthritis.
T cells drive inflammatory responses in the body, and have been linked to the development of different autoimmune diseases.
These findings suggest that these gut bacteria may be activating the immune systems of people with rheumatoid arthritis. But instead of attacking the bacteria, their immune system attacks the joints.
Why this bacteria?
It is still unknown why people with rheumatoid arthritis develop an immune response to Subdoligranulum didolesgii.
But we think it may be the culprit when it comes to rheumatoid arthritis because this bacteria is found only in the intestines of people with rheumatoid arthritis, and not in the intestines of healthy people.
While many immune responses happen in the intestines, they are usually self-contained and do not spread to other areas of the body.
However, we believe that a particularly strong intestinal immune response against Subdoligranulum didolesgii could allow antibodies to bypass the intestinal firewall and spread to the joints.
To confirm our hypothesis, we gave mice an oral dose of Subdoligranulum didolesgii and monitored their reaction.
Within 14 days, the mice began to develop joint swelling and antibodies that attacked their joints.
The future of rheumatoid arthritis treatment
My colleagues and I hope this research can shed light on the origins of rheumatoid arthritis.
Our next goal is to discover how common these bacteria are in the general population and test whether the presence of these bacteria in the gut may lead to the development of rheumatoid arthritis in people.
It's important to note that antibiotics are unlikely to be helpful treatment for the microbiomes of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Although Subdoligranulum didolesgii may be triggering an autoimmune response for some people with rheumatoid arthritis, antibiotics eliminate both helpful and harmful bacteria in the gut.
Additionally, removing the bacteria won't necessarily stop the immune system from attacking the joints once it has started.
Nevertheless, we believe that these bacteria can be used as tools to develop treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and hopefully ways to prevent disease from happening in the first place.
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In bid to make it safer for pedestrians, authorities make NH 66 dangerous for motorists in Shiroor
IRB official says authorities threatened legal cases to force construction of humps
By Suman Rodrigues & Ismail Zaurez
Shiroor, Udupi: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had made it clear as far back as 1996. An order was issued by the ministry in 2016 that all speed breakers put up by local authorities on national highways must be removed. A similar order was again issued in 2021. The reason was simple. National highways are meant to allow smooth, uninterrupted movement of vehicles at higher speeds, and unscientific humps turn them into accident zones. Since then, the ministry has repeated this direction several times. Yet, nearly a decade later, the same warning appears to have been ignored on National Highway-66 in Udupi district.
At Shiroor Pette on the Byndoor–Karwar stretch of NH-66, the violation is hard to miss. Motorists encounter a sudden and poorly designed speed humps with on both sides of the highway, there are no reflectors installed, and no advance markings in place. A raised patch of road appears out of nowhere on a national highway where vehicles are legally moving at around 80 kmph. The danger increases at night, as this stretch has no streetlights, a problem seen across several National Highway sections along Karnataka’s coastline, where long patches remain unlit.
For those driving along the coast, the experience is jarring. One moment the road is smooth, the next the vehicle hits a hump so abrupt that drivers are forced to slam brakes or lose control. Motorists travelling regularly on this stretch say this is not an isolated issue but a pattern, with Shiroor emerging as a prime example of how unsafe interventions are creeping onto the national highway.
The concern is not just inconvenience. It is about safety. Rules framed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways clearly prohibit speed breakers on national highways. The ministry’s policy states that humps are a safety hazard and defeat the purpose of a high-speed corridor. Where speed control is unavoidable, such as at junctions or accident-prone locations, the prescribed alternative is properly designed rumble strips, not humps.
Despite this, NH-66 in Udupi has seen the appearance of multiple humps. At Gangoli Cross near Kundapura, there are three sets of four humps within a distance of just ten metres. What makes the situation more glaring is that similar stretches of NH-66 in neighbouring Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts do not have such humps. The difference is not the highway. It is the administration.
When Vartha Bharati contacted officials linked to highway management and local administration, the response was a familiar one. Denial, deflection, and passing the blame.
The Project Director of the Honnavar Project Implementation Unit, Shivakumar said the humps were put up by the local police station after being identified as accident-prone spots by the Road Safety Committee, which is chaired by the Deputy Commissioner. He said humps are not allowed on national highways but claimed temporary measures may be taken in areas with repeated accidents. He added that if the humps were found hazardous or unscientific, they would be removed.
He also said MP Kota Srinivas Poojary had called and requested that the humps be implemented, and that after a letter from the police, permission is sought from safety consultants of the National Highways Authority of India. According to him, this was only a temporary safety measure.
However, the local police station flatly denied erecting the humps. The Byndoor Circle Inspector Shivakumar B, said the police only identify blackspots based on set criteria and do not construct humps. According to him, decisions on what action to take are left to the road safety committee.
Udupi Superintendent of Police Hariram Shankar said the matter would be conveyed to the highway authority. He stated that police generally suggest rumble strips and that in extreme accident cases, civil engineers of NHAI decide on measures, including humps.
An official at the Shiroor toll plaza that is barely a couple of kilometers from these humps said the humps had been erected about a month ago after an autorickshaw driver died at the spot in an accident.
When the Project Director was again asked whether any letter had been received from the Deputy Commissioner or other authorities directing the erection of humps, he said no such letter had come and asked this reporter to check with IRB.
Manoj Naik, an official of IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd, which operates the Karwar–Kundapura stretch under a Build-Operate-Transfer contract, said the humps were erected following instructions from the police. He said the location had been marked as a blackspot.
When asked who permitted the humps, he said they would add bitumen, paint markings and install cat’s eyes, and that the hump would then be “fine”. He said the Deputy Commissioner’s office had asked for barricades and a hump, even though MoRTH rules do not allow humps on national highways.
More seriously, he alleged that the company was pressured to put them up. He said they were told that cases would be registered against them if accidents continued. According to him, these instructions were oral, while the official letters only spoke about “safety measures”.
When asked about the absence of reflectors and warning signs, he said they would be added later. He also blamed motorists, especially truck drivers, for overspeeding, and said even those who built the road found it difficult to cross because of speeding vehicles.
However, letters accessed by Vartha Bharati tell a different story. The communication from the Deputy Commissioner’s office to NHAI and IRB does not mention humps at all. It only asks for safety measures, including rumble strips. A letter from Theme Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd., the consultancy agency appointed as the Independent Engineer for consultancy services during the Operation and Maintenance of the stretch of the highway, states that safety measures had already been provided at the location.
When asked why these “measures” included humps, which are not permitted on national highways, officials from the consultancy avoided calls seeking clarification.
When contacted, Udupi Deputy Commissioner Swaroopa T.K. was completely unaware of the humps that were erected on the national highway supposedly by the committee that is chaired by her. She however, said the issue will be reviewed in the next road safety committee meeting.
“We will look into that. After removing the hump, as per NHAI codes, we will take appropriate action in this regard,” she added.
What emerges clearly is not a safety plan but a blame game. Every authority points fingers at another. No one takes responsibility. No one produces a clear written order authorising the humps.
This is despite clear guidelines and repeated judicial directions. Based on MoRTH policy and directions arising from road safety proceedings, including those monitored by the Supreme Court of India, speed breakers on national highways are strictly prohibited. The policy mandates removal of unscientific and unauthorised humps and requires that any rumble strips must be approved by the Chief Engineer or authorised officer of NHAI or NHIDCL, and must comply with Indian Road Congress standards. Even in recent years, the Supreme Court has continued to push for strict enforcement of these norms.
In the rush to show action after accidents, authorities in Shiroor appear to have created a new danger. A sudden hump on a high-speed highway does not just threaten motorists. When drivers lose control after hitting an unexpected obstacle, vehicles often swerve towards the very spot where pedestrians wait to cross.
What this really means is simple. In the name of pedestrian safety, an already risky stretch has been made more dangerous for everyone. Until accountability is fixed and rules are followed, NH-66 in Udupi will remain a highway where safety decisions are made in haste, without science, and without anyone willing to own them.
