A substance produced by gut microbes may cause scarring and blood vessel damage in scleroderma patients, according to a recent study The findings of the study were published in the journal iScience. The intestinal microbiome regulates immunity, and its alterations play a role in autoimmune conditions such as scleroderma. However, until now, researchers did not know how alterations in the intestinal microbiome contribute to fibrosis and vascular damage characteristic of scleroderma. Researchers from Michigan Medicine investigated how a compound generated by the gut microbiome called trimethylamine N-oxide, or TMAO, could cause changes to cellular processes in scleroderma that trigger fibrosis, inflammation and vascular injury. TMAO is formed in the liver after the gut metabolizes nutrients such as choline and carnitine, which are abundant in the Western diet that is rich in meat. Results published in iScience reveal that the TMAO can reprogram cells to become scar-forming myofibroblasts, which lead to fibrosis and vascular damage.
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