Leaky Gut Lets Bacteria Slip Away and Stir Up Autoimmunity

If the gut barrier weakens, a bacterium called Enterococcus gallinarum can leak out of the intestines, colonize the liver and other organs, and trigger a lupus-like autoimmune reaction, reports a team of Yale scientists. These scientists also discovered that the autoimmune reaction can be suppressed with an antibiotic or vaccine.These new findings appeared March 9 in the journal Science , in an article entitled “Translocation of a Gut Pathobiont Drives Autoimmunity in Mice and Humans.&rdqu