“Pathobiont-specific treatment can abrogate host autoimmune processes without needing to suppress the immune system, which can lead to systemic adverse events in current clinical practice,” they wrote.
The researchers then tested for E. gallinarum translocation to human livers in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) with serologic features of lupus, including antinuclear antibodies and anti-dsDNA immunoglobulin G antibodies.
Liver biopsies from three SLE patients were positive for E. gallinarum, whereas samples from four of six healthy liver transplant donors with normal liver histology tested positive for the presence of other Enterococcus species but not E. gallinarum.
“Consistent with enhanced adaptive immune responses to E. gallinarum, the majority of SLE and AIH patients also showed increased serum antibody titers against E. gallinarum and particularly its RNA,” they said.