More importantly, PMT has added a wealth of information on our understanding of G protein signaling and the recent finding that Gαq is an important regulator of cell metabolism and might be involved in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (113) shows that research on bacterial toxins has the potential to make important revelations in the field of microbial immunology and human diseases. This evidence concerns the gene GNAQ and rheumatoid arthritis.