AUTOIMMUNITY AND AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES
WHAT CAUSES THE BODY’S IMMUNE SYSTEM TO TURN TRAITOR AND DESTROY ITS OWN ORGANS, INSTEAD OF PROTECTING THEM?
Millions of people all over the world (more than 5 % of world’s population) are being attacked and sickened by their own immune system. And the incidences of autoimmune diseases are steadily increasing across the globe. Why? Nobody knows the answer; it is still a mystery. The unknowns about autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases, far outweigh the knowns.
Therefore, I would like to raise more questions about autoimmune diseases than the answers. What is interesting is that 4 out of 5 patients inflicted with autoimmune diseases are women. Why? The answer is speculative and unknown.
Why are there so many different autoimmune diseases and autoimmune disorders? Again, the exact answer is not known. So far, there are about 80 different autoimmune diseases, ranging from often seen type 1 diabetes, to lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease), to a rare and obscure Takayasu arteritis.
Let’s refresh our memory about the immunity and the immune system so that we can understand the topic better. Our immune system developed, refined, programmed, over a millennia ago to protect us against any kind of diseases. We live in an ocean of dangerous, disease-causing microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites because our immune system enables us. These microbes are everywhere, in the air, in the soil, in the water, in our food.
Our immune system is very complex, smart, and sophisticated. It is trained to differentiate the differences between self-antigens, cells tissues and organs than non-self- antigens and objects, on the basis of their molecular structure. While tolerating self-antigens, the immune system attacks and destroys non-self-antigens.
Then, how could our smart and sophisticated immune system turn traitor, and attack to destroy its own organs? That is the million dollar question. The exact answer is not known.
In my humble opinion, and as I see it, first self-antigens have to be modified at the molecular level for whatever reasons (a viral infection, a chemical substance, a drug, air pollution), and must slough off into the blood circulation. Our immune system no longer recognizes them as self-antigen and starts to generate an autoimmune reaction by producing specific autoimmune antibodies, that travel and bind to organs where they originated, to mark them for destruction by the immune system.
But this is a simplistic approach. All of us have viral infections and are exposed to the same environmental factors. Not all of us develop autoimmune diseases.
Could heredity and genetic makeup of a person be a reason? Not exactly. Because identical twins who share exactly the same genes, while some of identical twins develop auto immune diseases, the others don’t. However, autoimmune diseases run in families. Therefore, there must be a genetic susceptibility or tendency to develop autoimmune diseases.
Could it be due to dysregulated and overactive host immune system? Maybe. It is interesting to note that immune reactions are regulated by the billions of microbiome population that are metabolically active and symbiotically living in our guts. Dietary changes, and frequently abused antibiotics usage could change and cause dysbiosis in microbiome population and that could trigger overactive immune reactions.
So, currently held paradigm should involve complex interactions of at least three elements: Genetic Susceptibility, Host Immunity, Environmental Factors.
Why are women more prone to developing autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases?
This is the most interesting question. Researchers have suggested that it might be a revolutionary relic, for women to have a stronger and more vigilante immune system, to be able to carry a successful pregnancy, even if it comes with increased risk of autoimmune diseases. Increased risk could be due to the effects of female sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone, on the intensity of immune reactions, and presence of XX chromosomes in females, even the presence of different microbiome population in females could play a role.
My personal beliefs tell me three things about the power of the immune system and its different reactions on males and females, these I would very much like to share with my readers:
1. I believe women are genetically far superior to men because only women carry mitochondrial genes. Without mitochondria which are the source of energy production in every cell, life is not possible.
2. Women possess a much stronger and more complex immune system and hormonal system, in order to be able to conceive, tolerate, feed the fetus with her own blood to maturity, deliver and continue to feed with breast milk and care for her baby. Without our mother’s genetic and immunologic superiority and TLC, the male population of our species would not exist.
3. In the treatment of autoimmune diseases, instead of blocking the entire immune system and its defenses, which will leave the door wide open for opportunistic infections and multiple cancers, scientists must try to develop more targeted specific treatments for every autoimmune disease.
