Autoimmune Life Blog

Allyson Byrd, PhD, is an expert in the gut microbiome, the study of the tiny organisms that live inside our digestive system. James Lord, MD, PhD, is a gastroenterologist who has studied inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis for more than 20 years.

Why does a medicine work for one person, but not another with the same disease? Dr. Byrd is seeking answers in a place that some people might find surprising.

Adam Lacy-Hulbert, PhD, was reading through the latest scientific papers when one finding stopped him in his tracks: Groups from Kyoto University and Mount Sinai described an autoantibody specific to people with ulcerative colitis (UC).

Your gut is home to a huge community of bacteria called the microbiome. Some bacteria are good, some are bad — and some might hold the key to understanding an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) like Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

To most people, the gut is just a part of your body that helps digest food.

Among the many mysteries of autoimmune diseases, we know one thing for sure: These diseases are connected. They often occur when immune cells called T cells mistakenly attack healthy tissue — say the pancreas in type 1 diabetes (T1D) or the gut in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

James Lord, MD, PhD, has a simple way of explaining the immune system. “It’s not a homogenous pot of stew,” he says. “It’s a carefully orchestrated dance, and doing the right thing at the right time is critical. But it’s very hard to predict the choreography.”

We’re all hearing that people with underlying conditions and immune deficiencies are more susceptible to COVID-19. It’s natural for people with autoimmune disease to wonder what this means for them.

Most people don’t spend much time thinking about their gut. They know it starts at their mouth and ends at their rectum — and they hope it stays in working order. They might even know it includes the gut microbiome, millions of bacteria in your large intestine.

Making the choice to have a baby can be complicated for any prospective parent. When you have an autoimmune disease, that decision can seem even more complex. You may wonder how pregnancy will impact your disease, and whether your disease will affect your baby.