Tag Archive for: Autoimmune diseases

,

COVID-19 Can Trigger Self-Attacking Antibodies

COVID 19 Can Trigger Self-Attacking Antibodies - کرونا و اتوآنتی بادی ها

Infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 can trigger an immune response that lasts well beyond the initial infection and recovery—even among people who had mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, according to Cedars-Sinai investigators. The findings are published in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

When people are infected with a virus or other pathogen, their bodies unleash proteins called antibodies that detect foreign substances and keep them from invading cells. In some cases, however, people produce autoantibodies that can attack the body’s own organs and tissues over time.

The Cedars-Sinai investigators found that people with prior infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, have a wide variety of autoantibodies up to six months after they have fully recovered. Prior to this study, researchers knew that severe cases of COVID-19 can stress the immune system so much that autoantibodies are produced. This study is the first to report not only the presence of elevated autoantibodies after mild or asymptomatic infection, but their persistence over time.

Some of the autoantibodies have been linked to autoimmune diseases that typically affect women more often than men. In this study, however, men had a higher number of elevated autoantibodies than women.

Release date: 03 January 2022
Source: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

,

Fighting multiple sclerosis with cold

Fighting multiple sclerosis with cold - سرما و کمک به درمان ام اس

Scientists at UNIGE are demonstrating how cold could alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis by depriving the immune system of its energy.

In evolutionary biology, the “Life History Theory”, first proposed in the 1950s, postulates that when the environment is favourable, the resources used by any organism are devoted for growth and reproduction. Conversely, in a hostile environment, resources are transferred to so-called maintenance programmes, such as energy conservation and defence against external attacks. Scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) developed this idea to a specific field of medicine: the erroneous activation of the immune system that causes autoimmune diseases. By studying mice suffering from a model of multiple sclerosis, the research team succeeded in deciphering how exposure to cold pushed the organism to divert its resources from the immune system towards maintaining body heat. Indeed, during cold, the immune system decreased its harmful activity which considerably attenuated the course of the autoimmune disease. These results, highlighted on the cover of the journal Cell Metabolism, pave the way for a fundamental biological concept on the allocation of energy resources.

Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system attacks the body own organs. Type 1 diabetes, for example, is caused by the erroneous destruction of insulin-producing pancreatic cells. Multiple sclerosis is the most common autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (consisting of the brain and spinal cord). The disease is characterised by the destruction of the myelin, which is a protective insulation of nerve cells and is important for the correct and fast transmission of electrical signals. Its destruction thus leads to neurological disability, including paralysis.

Release date: 22 October 2021
Source: Université de Genève