Antibiotics promote type 1 diabetes

Dr. Andrea Bannert has been with since 2013. The doctor of biology and medicine editor initially carried out research in microbiology and is the team's expert on the tiny things: bacteria, viruses, molecules and genes. She also works as a freelancer for Bayerischer Rundfunk and various science magazines and writes fantasy novels and children's stories.

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Those who took antibiotics frequently as a child are apparently more likely to develop type 1 diabetes - at least that is what the results of animal experiments suggest. Researchers suspect that the risk of other autoimmune diseases could also increase. The reason for this is the effects of the medication on the tiny roommates in the intestines.

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Billions of bacteria live in the human digestive tract. It has been known for some time that the small sub-tenants also influence the immune system. For example, various studies have shown that the microorganisms make the immune cells less aggressive. This also protects against attacks on your own body.

The number of autoimmune diseases, i.e. diseases in which the body police attack its own cells, has doubled in the last few decades. At the same time, antibiotics against infectious diseases were being used increasingly in children. Scientists at Langone Medical Center in New York have therefore investigated the question of whether there is a possible connection.

Twice as often diabetic

To do this, they treated mice with antibiotics, which had a high genetic risk of developing type 1 diabetes. One group was given the drugs continuously in low doses, the second in sections - according to the amount that would also be used to treat infectious diseases in children. In addition, there was a control group with rodents that were not treated with antibiotics.

The result: animals that were repeatedly given antibiotics for a short period of time, but were given higher doses of antibiotics, fell ill with type 1 diabetes twice as often as the control mice. That was at least true for the male rodents; for the female mice, the result was not quite so clear.

Antibiotics kill the tenants too

The researchers also found the underlying mechanism: “The antibiotics kill the bacteria. However, often not only the disease-causing ones, but also the helpful roommates in the intestine, ”says Martin Blaser, head of the investigation.

Above all, the short but higher dose of antibiotics almost completely wiped out those intestinal bacteria that normally train the immune system. This training is important so that the immune cells do not react excessively and, for example, attack the body's own cells - as in the case of type 1 diabetes.

Prescribe antibiotics wisely

For the first time it has been shown that antibiotics have a permanent effect on the immune system and possibly trigger autoimmune diseases. The recommendation is clear: the administration of antibiotics, especially for children, should always be carefully considered. In the next step, the scientists now have to investigate whether the results from the animal experiment can also be transferred to humans.

In type 1 diabetes, the body police attack the so-called islet cells in the pancreas. These usually produce insulin. Without the messenger substance, the sugar can no longer get from the blood to the body cells. The blood sugar level continues to rise.

Source: Blaser M. J. et al .: Antibiotic-mediated gut microbiome perturbation accelerates development of type 1 diabetes in mice. Nature Microbiology, 2016; 1: 16140.

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