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| Cause of Scleroderma: Autoimmunity | ||||
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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 (such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites). Unfortunately, this set of tools, known as the immune system, sometimes goes awry and attacks the body itself. John Hopkins Autoimmune Disease Research Center 09/10/2001. | ||||
| Hotline To The Brain. A direct connection exists between the brain and the immune system at least in mice. Scientists conducted a comprehensive study of mice intestine and the surrounding blood and lymph vessels and found numerous immune cells imbedded in the tissue around the intestine joined to nerve strands and cells. Medical News Today. 02/11/07. | ||||
| Autoimmune disorders studied in detail by University of Michigan researchers. Researchers have been able to identify the modalities of a drug that is capable of rectifying autoimmune disorders and other types of diseases. Med India. 07/09/06. | ||||
| 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: Autoimmunity) | ||||
| Researchers uncover a pathway linked to Autoimmune disease. In a series of discoveries that has the potential to help researchers halt autoimmune disorders (such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis) one Rockefeller University scientist has found an underlying mechanism that begins to explain the pathologies of a number of immune diseases. Journal of Experimental Medicine 203(3): 789-797. 03/29/06. (Also see: IVIg and Scleroderma Clinical Trials: Positive Results) | ||||
| Women and autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases affect approximately 8% of the population, 78% of whom are women. The reasons for the high prevalence in women are unknown, but circumstantial evidence links autoimmune diseases with preceding infections. Sex hormones may further amplify this hyperimmune response to infection in susceptible persons, which leads to an increased prevalence of autoimmune diseases in women. PubMed. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Nov;10(11):2005-11. | ||||
| Autophagy | ||||
Stem Cell Finding Could Help Fight Autoimmune Disease. In a finding that could help researchers better understand autoimmune disease, scientists say a process called autophagy prompts dying embryonic stem cells to send out "eat me" and "come and get me" signals to ensure their elimination by healthy cells. The findings also suggest that defects in autophagy might trigger autoimmune diseases and, if so, reversing the defects could potentially help treat such diseases. Health Central.com 03/15/07. | ||||
| U-M researcher examines the cell's housekeeping habits. The cells of higher organisms have an internal mechanism for chewing up and recycling parts of themselves, particularly in times of stress, like starvation and disease. But nobody is quite sure yet whether this recently discovered process protects cells, or causes damage. University of Michigan 11-04-04. | ||||
| Autoimmunity: B Cells and T Cells | ||||
| Autoimmunity: B Cells and T Cells. T Cells are white blood cells that help stimulate an immune response to infections. Sometimes T cells become overactive, which is suspected as being part of the process that leads to autoimmune diseases. ISN. | ||||
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| Autoimmunity and Scleroderma | ||||
| Scleroderma and Antibodies. ISN. |
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