Development of a serum-antibody test specific for a bacterium associated with rheumatoid arthritis patients
Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an incurable inflammatory autoimmune disease of synovial
joints that affects nearly 1% of the global population and an estimated 1.36 million
Americans. The disease has significant economic impacts—resulting in annual healthcare
expenses totaling $19 billion annually. Pathogenesis is driven by a complex interplay
between genetic and environmental factors. Recent literature suggests the presence of
microbial communities in synovial joints of both RA patients and normal healthy donors
(NHDs). Further analysis revealed that the Raoultella genus of bacteria was present in the
synovium of RA patients, but not NHDs. This is suggestive of a possible involvement of
the synovial microbiome in the pathogenesis of RA. In this project, pure culture of
Raoultella ornitholytica and R. planticola were established and used to generate bacterial
whole cell lysates. Each lysate was screened against 10 RA patient and 5 normal healthy
donor human serum samples. Checkerboard titrations were performed to optimize the
assay and the indirect ELISA protocol established in this study will be used in future lab
projects.
Subject
Rheumatoid arthritis
Microbiology
Pathogenesis