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| Autoimmunity |
| This page was written by Shelley Ensz, and has not yet been medically edited. See Disclaimer. |
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| What is Autoimmunity? |
| What is Autoimmunity? The healthy human body is equipped with a powerful set of tools for resisting the onslaught of invading microorganisms. Unfortunately, this set of tools, known as the immune system, sometimes goes awry and attacks the body itself. At least ten million Americans suffer from the more than eighty illnesses caused by autoimmunity. John Hopkins Medical Institutions. (Also see: Antibodies ) |
| Autoimmunity. Welcome to Ed's Pathology Notes, placed here originally for the convenience of medical students at my school. I am good at helping people find resources and answers. |
| American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc. |
| Men get autoimmune diseases, too! While nearly 75 percent of the more than 23.5 million Americans who suffer from autoimmune disease are women, millions of American men suffer from these diseases, too. However, autoimmune diseases that develop in men tend to be more severe. News-Medical.net. 04/06/08. |
| Do You Have an Autoimmune Disease? Why You Should Beware of the Sun. While the most obvious threat is skin damage, the sun’s rays also can wreak havoc for many people with lupus, as well as those taking certain arthritis medications. Arthritis Today. 02/28/07. (Also see: Skin Involvement) |
| When The Body Attacks Itself. According to the National Institutes of Health in the United States, approximately 23.5 million Americans have 24 of the 80 recognised autoimmune disorders, making the prevalence of autoimmune disease greater than cancer and roughly equal to heart disease. The Jamaica Observer. 01/28/07. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma ) |
| Autoimmune Links by Mick Breske |
| Causes of Autoimmunity |
| Are pediatric autoimmune diseases primarily genetic diseases? Advancing methods are leading to the discovery of genes associated with childhood autoimmune diseases. However, the genetic contribution to disease risk for any one gene remains less than 30% for most diseases, suggesting that pediatric autoimmunity is not primarily genetic in a classical sense. Shaw, E. A. Current Opinion in Rheumatology. September 2008. (Also see: Shared Autoimmunity) |
| How Cells Die Determines Whether Immune System Mounts Response. Every moment we live, cells in our bodies are dying. One type of cell death activates an immune response while another type doesn't. This finding eventually could have important implications in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer. NewsWire. 07/15/08. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma ) |
| Environmental factors linked to development of autoimmune diseases. The research focused on a protein called the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). The research found that stimulation of AhR by environmental factors could be involved in development of autoimmune disease. NewsMedical.net. 03/30/08. |
| B Cell Mutations That May Cause Cancers And Autoimmune Diseases. B cells, the white blood cells that produce antibodies, form a key part of our 'immune response'. We must maintain exactly the right number of B cells to remain healthy. Medical News Today. 03/03/08. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma: B Cells ) |
| New Batch of Lupus Genes Discovered. "It's an important moment in autoimmune disease research." U.S. News & World Report. 01/21/08. (Also see: Lupus ) |
| Two Genes Are Important Key to Regulating Immune Response. The discovery fills in an important "missing link" in a biochemical pathway that's long been tied to disorders ranging from lupus and Type 1 diabetes, to cancer and AIDS. Weill Cornell Medical College. 12/28/07. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma: Cytokines ) |
| Review: Vitamin D, immunity and lupus. Patients with autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus show low 25-OH vitamin D serum levels. (Sage Journals) Lupus, Vol. 17, No. 1, 6-10 (2008). (Also see: Vitamin D Deficiency ) |
| Molecular 'trip switch' shuts down inflammatory response. Like a circuit breaker that prevents electrical wiring from overheating and bringing down the house, a tiny family of three molecules stops the immune system from mounting an out-of-control, destructive inflammatory response against invading pathogens, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found. EurekAlert! 12/13/07. |
| Occupational Exposures May Be Linked To Death From Autoimmune Disease. Farmers showed increased risk of death from systemic autoimmune disease, particularly for those who worked with crops versus livestock. In addition, several industrial occupations such as mining and textile machine operators, as well as timber cutting and logging had an increased risk of death from this group of diseases. Science Daily. 09/28/07. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma: Environmental ) |
| Scientists Closer to Cracking the Autoimmune Mystery. "Almost every autoimmune disease, with the exception of rheumatoid arthritis, seems to be going up," says immunologist Noel Rose, director of the Johns Hopkins Autoimmune Diseases Research Center. But whether that's because of an increase in disease or better recognition of cases is not certain. MedIndia.com. 09/06/07. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma ) |
| Macrophages In The Spleen Regulate The Immune Response And Immune Tolerance. This is the first study demonstrating that macrophages in the marginal zone of the spleen regulate not only efficient clearance of dying cells, but also the selective engulfment of dying cells by dendritic cells. Science Daliy. 07/30/07. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma: Dendritic cells ) |
| Removing a sugar turns protective antibodies into attackers. Researcher shows that the ability of the IgG family of antibodies to efficiently trigger inflammation depends on a specific sugar molecule at the stem of the Y-shaped antibody structure. Years of prior research have confirmed that patients with autoimmune diseases have variations in the sugar patterns on their antibodies. RU Newswire. 07/04/07. (Also see: Antibodies ) |
| Genes Add Up Risk Of Autoimmune Disease. Geneticists have identified a link between the number of copies of a specific gene an individual has and their susceptibility to autoimmune diseases like lupus that affect the whole body. Medical News Today. 05/25/07. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma: Genetics and Lupus ) |
| Molecule That Destroys Bone Also Protects It. The component, IL-17, was recognized only in the past 18 months to be a primary cause of bone destruction and inflammation in autoimmune diseases. Innovations Report. 05/09/07. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma: Cytokines ) |
| Researchers discover connection between allergic diseases and autoimmune diseases. Our study implies that allergic and inflammatory diseases may actually trigger autoimmune diseases by relaxing the controls that normally eliminate newly produced, self-reactive B cells. PhysOrg.com (Nature Immunology) April 3 2007. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma: B and T cells ) |
| Dermal enhancement: bacterial products on intact skin induce and augment organ-specific autoimmune disease. Because dermal application of cholera toxin, and other bacterial products with similar adjuvant activities, is being developed as a clinical vaccination strategy, these data raise the possibility that it could precipitate autoimmune disease in genetically susceptible humans. PubMed. J Immunol. 2004 Jan 1;172(1):302-9. |
| Diagnosis of Autoimmunity |
| Predictors of autoimmune disease: Autoantibodies and beyond. Our increasing knowledge of the steps leading from benign autoimmunity to frank autoimmune disease has suggested ways by which subtle genetic differences combined with assessment of the pattern of critical mediators can trace the progression of disease. The new tools of multiplex testing and information handling open opportunities to identify early signposts of disease. (IngentaConnect) Rose, Noel. Autoimmunity. September 2008. (Also see: Antibodies) |
| Fighting the battles within: Doctors say medicine is gaining ground in thwarting hard-to-diagnose diseases. Advancements in the understanding of autoimmune diseases in recent years have helped doctors to diagnose patients more accurately, but even now, for every patient who is diagnosed quickly with a particular disease, there are five patients who don’t receive a definitive diagnosis. Spokane Journal of Business. 03/22/07. (Also see: Difficult Diagnosis ) |
| Polyautoimmunity |
| Risk of co-existing autoimmune diseases in 3309 index cases with auto-immune thyroid disease (AITD) and their relatives. AITD patients and their parents are at increased risk of co-existing autoimmune diseases; brothers of AITD subjects are particularly likely to have thyroid dysfunction. Kristien Boelaert. Endocrine Abstracts (2008) 15 P385. (Also see: Thyroid Disease ) |
| Polyautoimmunity In Patients With Systemic Sclerosis(SSc). Polyautoimmunity is frequent in patients with SSc, and autoimmune diseases cluster within families of these patients. A. Rojas-Villarraga THU0314 EULAR 2007. (Also see: Scleroderma in Overlap ) |
| Symptoms of Autoimmunity |
| The case for autoimmunity in the etiology of schizophrenia. The literature on autoimmunity as a possible mechanism in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia can be conflicting, but there is a substantial amount of circumstantial, although not conclusive, evidence of immune dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia. (PubMed) Goldsmith CA. Pharmacotherapy 2008 Jun 28(6):730-41. |
| Erectile Dysfunction (ED): An Important Clinical Symptom Associated With Rheumatologic Disease. ED is an important clinical symptom physicians of all disciplines should be aware about it. However, in patients where ED occurs first and more “typical” explanations like hypertension, diabetes and others were excluded, physicians should think about the possibility of an underlying autoimmune disease. J. Rech AB0523 EULAR 2007 (Also see: Erectile Dysfunction ) |
| Cardiac involvement in systemic inflammatory diseases. Modern sophisticated imaging techniques reveal cardiac abnormalities in most of these diseases and the reported frequency of cardiac involvement ranges widely depending upon the applied diagnostic methods and selection of patients. European Heart Journal. Vol 28, No 15 Pp. 1797-1804. (Also see: Cardiac Involvement ) |
| Treating Autoimmunity |
| Off-Label Use of Biological Therapies in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases (SAD). Description of 1140 Registered Cases (International Registry of Biological Agents in SAD, iBIOGEAS). Promising results have been obtained by using biological therapies in patients with SAD refractory to conventional treatment. Controlled trials are needed to confirm the potential use of biological therapies in SAD. Manuel Ramos-Casals. 1648/262. (Also see: Mainstream Medications ) |
| New Way to Treat Allergic Disorders. The research shows Lactococcus lactis can be used to induce tolerance toward certain substances. Study authors report the strategy can now be further developed to treat allergic and autoimmune disorders. Invanhoe's Medical Breakthroughs. 08/01/07. (Also see: Alternative Therapies ) |
| Researchers Identify a Potential Role For Retinoic Acid In Autoimmune And Inflammatory Diseases Identified. An important finding, which could eventually lead to a new therapeutic approach for treating autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, psoriasis and others. The studies, conducted in laboratory mice, demonstrated the role of retinoic acid, a substance derived when Vitamin A is broken down in the body, in regulating inflammation. EurekAlert!. 06/14/07. (Also see: Causes of Scleroderma: T Cells ) |
| Related Books |
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. Despite the prevalence of autoimmune disease, surveys show that more than 90 percent of people cannot summon the name of a single autoimmune disease when asked to name one specifically. Excerpt from book by Donna Nakazawa. Alert.net. 03/19/08. (Also see: 
