In France, the Crohn’s disease affects around 100,000 people – 4,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, 10% before the age of 17. This Chronic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is, for the moment, incurable: it is characterized by abdominal pain, chronic diarrhea, significant weight loss, fatigue and / or disturbed transit.
According to a new study conducted by several American universities (the Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Cornell University, the Hospital for Special Surgery and the Weill Cornell Medicine and the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease), Crohn’s disease could be linked to another inflammatory pathology: spondyloarthritis.
Chronic inflammatory rheumatism
Characterized by pain in the back or in the kidneys (especially in the morning and / or at the end of the night), axial spondyloarthritis is a chronic inflammatory rheumatism that mainly targets the joints of the spine, pelvis, thorax, chest. knee or hip. These gradually degrade and deform, resulting in stiffness and pain.
By studying the stools of several volunteers affected by Crohn’s disease (as well as the stools of mice affected by the same inflammatory disease), the American researchers observed the presence of a bacterium from the E. Coli family and of several antibodies. can promote the onset of spondyloarthritis.
“Concretely, we discovered that the immune system of the sick person does not attack only his digestive system: it also degrades certain joints. This discovery could allow us to adapt the drug treatments offered to patients, ”explain the researchers, who have published their work in the specialized journal. Science Translational Medicine.
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