Around the world, people are suffering more because their immune systems can't distinguish between healthy cells and invader microorganisms. Instead of protecting them from disease their organs and tissues are attacked by the same defenses.
International research efforts are underway to stop this trend. A London-based initiative called the Francis Crick Institute, has two world-renowned experts. James Lee & Carola Vinuesa established distinct research teams to figure out the root causes of an autoimmune disorder.
Lee told the Observer that the occurrence of autoimmune diseases began to rise around 40 years ago, in Western countries. However, we are now witnessing cases appear in nations that have never experienced these diseases prior to.
For example, the biggest recent rise in cases of inflammatory bowel disease has occurred in the Middle East and east Asia. They had not seen the disease prior to.
Type 1 diabetes is often associated with rheumatoid or multiple sclerosis. In all cases, the immune system is activated and turns on healthy tissues.
About 4 million people in the UK have suffered from these conditions. Others may suffer more than one. It is estimated that autoimmune diseases are increasing by between 3% to 9% per year worldwide. The rise in cases of autoimmune diseases is believed to be due to environmental factors, as per the majority of scientists.
Lee, who was once based at Cambridge University, stated that our genetic makeup has not changed over the past few years. Thus, something is changing within our bodies that could increase our vulnerability to developing autoimmune disease.
This notion was endorsed by Vinuesa, who was previously based at the Australian National University. She highlighted changes in diet that were happening as more countries adopted western-style diets , and people ate more fast food.
Vinuesa stated that fast-food meals contain a few essential ingredients, such as fiber. Research suggests that this can alter the microbiome of a person that is the collection of microorganisms in our digestive tract. These microorganisms play an crucial role in controlling many bodily functions.
These changes to our microbiomes then create autoimmune conditions There are over 100 different types.
The two scientists emphasized that there were individual susceptibilities to these illnesses. This includes celiac and Lupus. It causes inflammation, swelling, and may cause death and damage to various organs, including the heart.
Vinuesa claims that anyone who does not have a particular genetic susceptibility to develop an autoimmune disorder regardless of how many Big Macs they eat. "There's not much we can do to stop the global growth of fast food franchises. So instead, we are trying to understand the fundamental genetic mechanisms that underpin autoimmune diseases and make some people susceptible but others not. We want to tackle the problem at this level."
Modern techniques mean that researchers are now able to pinpoint tiny differences in DNA between large numbers of individuals. This is how it's possible to identify the common genetic patterns of patients with an auto-immune disease.
Lee said that the capacity to Click here sequence large amounts of DNA has transformed everything. We didn't have this technology until recently. Inflammatory bowel diseases were only one of the variants that we could identify at the time I started my study. Now we know of over 250.
Lee and Vinuesa have been conducting this research since the beginning. Their research aims to understand the different types of diseases that doctors are currently researching and to discover the genetic mechanisms which lead to these diseases. Vinuesa believes it's now clear that there are numerous types of autoimmune disorders like Lupus. These may all result from different genetic pathways. It is an issue when you are trying to find the right treatment.
There are a lot of new therapies that are likely to be beneficial but we don't have the appropriate patients. Actually we do not have the necessary information to know if these patients suffer from the same illness. This is the aim of autoimmune research. We have to learn how to categorize and stratify patients so that we can give them the right therapy.
Lee stated that the growing incidence of autoimmune diseases around the globe meant that new treatment and drugs were needed urgently. There are currently no treatments for autoimmune disease, which often occur in young people, while they're trying to land their first job, complete the school year, and also raise their families.
The result is that more people will need surgeryor require regular injections for the rest their lives. This could be extremely difficult for patients, and puts a strain on the health system. That's why we need to develop innovative and effective treatment options.
Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune conditionthat is caused by the immune system attacking healthy body tissues. But, we don't know the triggers for it.
Your immune system usually produces antibodies that attack viruses and bacteria to help fight infection.
Your immune system may mistakenly send antibodies to your joints in the event that you have Rheumatoid. These antibodies attack the tissues around them.
The thin layer (synovium) that is a protective layer on your joints, could get inflamed and irritated, releasing chemicals to cause injury.
bones
Cartilage is the connective tissue stretchy that connects bones
Tendons are the tissue that connects muscle to bone
ligaments - the tissues that connects cartilage and bone
If rheumatoid joint disease isn't treated, these chemicals slowly make the joint loose its shape and alignment. The chemicals can eventually cause the destruction of the entire joint.
Various theories of the reason why the immune system attacks joints have been proposed for example, an infection as an underlying cause, however none of these theories have been proved.
Possible risk factors
You could be at a higher risk of developing rheumatoidarthritis in the event that you fail to follow the following steps:
The genes you carry - There is some evidence that Rheumatoid arthritis is passed down through families. But the chance of it passing to a child is low since genes only play an insignificant role in the condition.
hormones - rheumatoid arthritis is more prevalent among women than in men. This may be because of the impacts of the hormone oestrogen although this Check out link has not been proved
Smoking - Evidence suggests that smokers are more likely to develop rheumatoidarthritis.