Chronic Exposure to Staph Bacteria May Be Risk Factor for Lupus
Date: 10.8.2012
Chronic exposure to even small amounts of staph bacteria could be a risk factor for the chronic inflammatory disease lupus, Mayo Clinic research shows. Staph, short for Staphylococcus aureus, is a germ commonly found on the skin or in the nose, sometimes causing infections. In the Mayo study, mice were exposed to low doses of a protein found in staph and developed a lupus-like disease, with kidney disease and autoantibodies like those found in the blood of lupus patients.
The findings are published online this month in The Journal of Immunology. The next step is to study lupus patients to see if the staph protein in question plays a similar role in humans, says co-author Vaidehi Chowdhary, M.D., a Mayo Clinic rheumatologist.
"We think this protein could be an important clue to what may cause or exacerbate lupus in certain genetically predisposed patients," Dr. Chowdhary says. "Our hope is to confirm these findings in lupus patients and hopefully prevent flares."
