November and December have seen an abundance of new MAP publications by research groups affiliated with Human Para. We are proud to showcase their work below.

Revised Method for MAP Culture

The team of John Aitken of Otakaro Pathways, and Prof. Thomas Borody and Dr. Gaurav Agrawal of the Centre for Digestive Diseases describe how MAP and other non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) can be visualized using a modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining methodology.

The ability to culture and visualize MAP from human samples is critical to future research, and an accurate and consistent method of testing has been elusive. This paper, which explains the Ziehl-Neelsen methodology via historical modification, makes the case that variations must be made to properly visualize NTM vs. tuberculosis in human samples. “…where non-tuberculous mycobacteria are expected, it is not sufficient to use the acid-alcohol decolourizing step on the Ziehl-Neelsen stain.” Read the full paper below:

[gview file=”https://humanpara.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019-A-revaluation-of-the-Ziehl-Neelsen-stain.pdf”]

A Pair of Articles on MAP in Rheumatoid Arthritis

In this first article, Human Para 2017 conference presenters Dr. Horatio Bach and Dr. Leonardo Sechi teamed up to present their findings on MAP proteins found in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The researchers looked at the immune response against 2 MAP proteins (PtpA and PknG) in 84 RA patients and 79 healthy control samples.

For MAP protein PtpA, antibodies were detected in 48.8% of RA samples, but only 7.6% of healthy controls. Likewise, for PknG, antibodies were detected in 27.4% of RA samples and 10.12% of healthy controls. Further analysis showed that Epstein-Barr virus and MAP have a synergistic effect in the disease development of RA. Because PtpA and PknG are strongly recognized in RA, this supports the hypothesis that MAP infection may be involved in the pathogenesis of RA.

The second article, by Dr. Saleh Naser’s research lab, looked at the frequency and effect of single genetic mutations (SNPs) in 54 RA patients and 48 healthy controls subjects.

Overall, MAP infection significantly lowered levels of active osteocalcin, a major biomarker for osteoporosis in both Crohn’s disease and RA patients, and was more frequently detected in RA patients exhibiting SNPs in TNFα receptors.

“Collectively, the data supports a link between intracellular infection with MAP, SNPs in TNFα receptors, and active osteocalcin levels. The conclusion of this study should provoke scientists to consider inflammatory disorders and their complications as an interplay between genetic predisposition, effects of standard treatment options, and acquired infection. A personalized treatment option should be more effective to achieve a cure.”

Is Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection life long?

While 2 billion people are thought to be latently infected with M. tuberculosis and potentially at risk for developing active disease, the tests for tuberculosis (TB) do not distinguish between live bacteria and immune reactivity to antigens. In this article, Dr. Marcel Behr challenges the presumption that a positive TB test indicates latent infection of live bacteria. He concludes that a positive TB test serves as a sign of having been infected with TB, but is not indicative of the outcome (whether bacterial clearance vs. persistence of disease in latency.) Epidemiological experiments suggest that between 1% and 11% of people with immune reactivity to TB actually harbor viable bacteria capable of causing disease. This raises questions on other pathogens capable of causing chronic infection such as MAP, and we hope to see more research in this area.

How Cows May be Giving us Diabetes

Dr. C. Thomas Dow and Dr. Leonardo Sechi combine to hypothesize how MAP from cows may be causing type 1 diabetes (T1D) in humans. After a thorough overview of MAP infection in cattle and humans with Crohn’s disease, the authors outline the evidence showing that MAP may play a role in triggering T1D. A discussion of the ongoing study using the BCG vaccine to control blood sugar in T1D patients is included.

“Sufficient evidence points to the fact that until MAP is eliminated from the food chain, it may continue to be said that cows get Crohn’s disease and they are giving us diabetes, multiple sclerosis, sarcoidosis, Blau syndrome, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, lupus, Parkinson’s disease and rheumatoid arthritis.”