“In the case of T1D, decreased gut microbiome diversity is characteristic of and can be predictive of disease onset, suggesting that at-risk children may be missing specific microbes with disease-mitigating functions,” Hill wrote. The team further suggested in their essay that fortification of these microbial activities in children who carry risk alleles for T1D could be a strategy to prevent or delay disease.”
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“If we can continue to learn more about the mechanisms driving specific effects of the microbiota,” Hill said, “I think we can … hopefully use that knowledge to treat many autoimmune diseases.”
Read essay (published in Science): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5154757/
Read article from GenEngNews: https://www.genengnews.com/topics/omics/microbiome/prize-winning-research-suggests-restoring-lost-bacterial-cues-might-protect-against-t1d/