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Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

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Re: Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

#61

Post by alexey-salmin »

hsuduebc2 wrote: post #44

Let's hope that from eczema to lupus all these mysterious autoimmune diseases would be at least explained if not eradicated.

There is a study that claims that genes associated with autoimmune diseases increased survival during the black death epidemic by 40% and frequency of these genes increased a lot in the 14th century Europe [1]. I haven't yet seen independent confirmations but I can imagine that paranoid immune system can be beneficial depending on circumstances. If we eradicate autoimmune diseases then there's a chance we won't survive the next big pandemic.

[1] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/how-bla...

Re: Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

#62

Post by theGnuMe »

wkcheng wrote: post #50
hsuduebc2 wrote: post #44

Let's hope that from eczema to lupus all these mysterious autoimmune diseases would be at least explained if not eradicated.

I wonder if allergies can eventually be fixed somehow as well. There has to be an immune or autoimmune reason why some people have tons of allergies and other people are perfectly fine.

Allergies are caused by an overactive immune system. The way to overcome them is to train the immune system by exposing yourself to low doses of the allergen. Doctors do this and it’s called allergen immunotherapy. Interestingly this has been done since 1911.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-022-00786-1

Re: Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

#63

Post by worstspotgain »

trhway wrote: post #40
elcritch wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both reactions make sense to me. Too much AHR activation suppresses immune response leading to cancer proliferation due immune cells not culling cancerous cells, but too little leads to auto-immune conditions. It's definitely like a large sloppy code base with lots of implicit overlaps and global effects.

seems to be saying just that : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9140757/ "Autoimmunity and cancer as two sides of the same coin. The figure depicts how tuning of immune system regulatory mechanisms can contribute to autoimmunity, health, or cancer development." One can wonder if induction of some autoimmune condition may be used as a treatment of some cancers.

> One can wonder if induction of some autoimmune condition may be used as a treatment of some cancers.

This is one of the bases of the checkpoint inhibitor revolution in immunotherapy. [1] The checkpoint is there to prevent immunity excesses. Temporarily turning it off is effectively an autoimmune disorder [2], one that can take out the cancer.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkpoint_inhibitor

[2] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10....

Re: Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

#64

Post by theGnuMe »

Aerroon wrote: post #54
roywiggins wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is evidence that inflammation is among the causes of depression: https://wapo.st/3xHLze1 > pro-inflammatory drugs can induce people to become depressed, which suggests a causative link. In one seminal study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Miller and his colleagues conducted a double-blind study of 40 cancer patients undergoing treatment with interferon-alpha, an inflammatory cytokine. > Though…

Is this why something like vitamin C can help with depression?

What the mechanism?

Re: Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

#65

Post by xlbuttplug2 »

spondylosaurus wrote: post #58
hliyan wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had some sort of autoimmune thing hitting me almost every decade of my life (and then clearing up): eczema, asthma, vitiligo and most recently psoriasis. Usually quite mild, but I worry that the next one in the progression will be arthritis. Most doctors' explanations can be summarised into a shrug. Would be a relief to know what's going on in there.

Hey: do you have any stomach problems? Because that was me (up to and including the arthritis part) and then my "IBS" turned out to be Crohn's disease and once I started treating that 90% of my other shit vanished. Things were so bad back then that I was seriously considering a hip replacement to make the pain stop, but today I just hopped off the exercise bike and feel totally fine.

What was the treatment in your case?

Re: Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

#66

Post by hanniabu »

wkcheng wrote: post #50
hsuduebc2 wrote: post #44

Let's hope that from eczema to lupus all these mysterious autoimmune diseases would be at least explained if not eradicated.

I wonder if allergies can eventually be fixed somehow as well. There has to be an immune or autoimmune reason why some people have tons of allergies and other people are perfectly fine.

Largely depends on gut microbiome

Re: Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

#67

Post by wyldfire »

alexey-salmin wrote: post #61
hsuduebc2 wrote: post #44

Let's hope that from eczema to lupus all these mysterious autoimmune diseases would be at least explained if not eradicated.

There is a study that claims that genes associated with autoimmune diseases increased survival during the black death epidemic by 40% and frequency of these genes increased a lot in the 14th century Europe [1]. I haven't yet seen independent confirmations but I can imagine that paranoid immune system can be beneficial depending on circumstances. If we eradicate autoimmune diseases then there's a chance we won't survi…

> If we eradicate autoimmune diseases then there's a chance we won't survive the next big pandemic.

IMO it seems more likely that we'd find effective treatment which mitigates symptoms of autoimmune disease than a treatment that irreversibly eradicates the disease (including from subsequent generations, even?).

Re: Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

#68

Post by hanniabu »

psychopomp wrote: post #56
hliyan wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had some sort of autoimmune thing hitting me almost every decade of my life (and then clearing up): eczema, asthma, vitiligo and most recently psoriasis. Usually quite mild, but I worry that the next one in the progression will be arthritis. Most doctors' explanations can be summarised into a shrug. Would be a relief to know what's going on in there.

Autoimmune disorders all have a common root of gut dysfunction. I suffered from chronic inflammation for five years, the ultimate solution was a double capsule probiotic and eating more fiber. Most probiotics have a single capsule that opens in the stomach and all those CFUs are killed by stomach acid.

Sad to see you're getting down voted, shows how far behind everyone is

Re: Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

#69

Post by xlbuttplug2 »

psychopomp wrote: post #56
hliyan wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had some sort of autoimmune thing hitting me almost every decade of my life (and then clearing up): eczema, asthma, vitiligo and most recently psoriasis. Usually quite mild, but I worry that the next one in the progression will be arthritis. Most doctors' explanations can be summarised into a shrug. Would be a relief to know what's going on in there.

Autoimmune disorders all have a common root of gut dysfunction. I suffered from chronic inflammation for five years, the ultimate solution was a double capsule probiotic and eating more fiber. Most probiotics have a single capsule that opens in the stomach and all those CFUs are killed by stomach acid.

Any particular strain/brand that helped for you?

Re: Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it

#70

Post by hanniabu »

steelframe wrote: post #26
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a good feeling we're going to make a fairly big impact on cancer in our lifetimes with mRNA and other new discoveries in our lifetime. Autoimmune issues I'm feeling much less confident about. It seems like so many of the therapies are "turn down the immune system". I wish there was wider study into autoimmune derived mental health complications too. Maybe I'm totally wrong on this (and I'm very OK to be proven…

> Autoimmune issues I'm feeling much less confident about. It seems like so many of the therapies are "turn down the immune system". The immune system has many branches, and you can effectively deplete one branch of the immune system while preserving the other branches to fight infection. For example with MS a very effective treatment is CD20+ B cell suppression, as rituximab does. For many people diagnosed with MS t…

And all of this is controlled by your microbiome which is always ignored. I really wish more money was put towards researching that. It's literally our body's bioreactor.
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