Autoimmune Diseases

Xeljanz approved for rheumatoid arthritis

(HealthDay)—Xeljanz (tofacitinib) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) among people who can't tolerate, or haven't been helped by, the drug methotrexate.

Arthritis & Rheumatism created Nov 07, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Antirheumatic drugs have minor effect on preeclampsia risk

(HealthDay)—The use of a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) during pregnancy is rare and is associated with a nonsignificant increase in the risk for preeclampsia in women with autoimmune disease, ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Nov 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Dirty pacifiers may make infants sick, study says

(HealthDay)—Pacifiers are universally popular with new parents and their infants, but there's one big problem with them: They can get dirty. Very dirty.

Pediatrics created Nov 03, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 1

New MS drug proves effective where others have failed

A drug which 'reboots' a person's immune system has been shown to be an effective treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients who have already failed to respond to the first drug with which they were treated (a 'first-line' ...

Neuroscience created Oct 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Women with lupus have a higher risk for preeclampsia

New research reports that women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have a two-fold increase in risk of preeclampsia—a dangerous condition in which pregnant women develop high blood pressure (hypertension) and protein ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Oct 30, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A surprise mechanism uncovered in the development of lupus

In a study with a surprising outcome, scientists at Yale School of Medicine have discovered that an enzyme complex known for promoting natural resistance to bacteria and fungi unexpectedly inhibits the development ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Oct 25, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Millions may be taking vitamin D unnecessarily, analysis suggests

(HealthDay)—Under the latest guidelines from the Institute of Medicine, it's possible that almost 80 million Americans who've previously been considered as having low levels of vitamin D don't need supplements ...

Health created Oct 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Research sheds light on important role of autophagy, or self-eating cells, in developing new anti-inflammatory therapies

Research just carried out in the Immunology Research Centre, led by Dr James Harris, based in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College Dublin, shows that the process of autophagy  regulates the production ...

Medical research created Oct 24, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Immune cells make flexible choices

Our immune system must be tremendously complex to respond to the unending assault of viruses, bacteria and cancerous cells. One of the mechanisms used by the immune system to cope with the huge variety of possible threats ...

Immunology created Oct 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Redefining dentistry through 'salivaomics'

(Medical Xpress)—Scientists from the UCLA School of Dentistry have been at the vanguard of research on human saliva in recent years, leading the way in the dynamic, emerging field of salivary diagnostics, ...

Dentistry created Oct 22, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers elucidate transport pathway of immune system substances

To transport substances from the site of their production to their destination, the body needs a sophisticated transport and sorting system. Various receptors in and on the cells recognize certain molecules, pack them and ...

Immunology created Oct 18, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Vitamin D supplements may benefit lupus patients

A new clinical study published in BioMedCentral's open access journal Arthritis Research and Therapy provides preliminary evidence that vitamin D supplementation could be considered an immunomodulatory agent for systemic lupus ...

Arthritis & Rheumatism created Oct 16, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

People with severe psoriasis nearly twice at risk for diabetes

An analysis of 27 studies linking psoriasis in 314,000 individuals with diabetes has found strong correlation between the scaly skin rash and the blood sugar disorder that predisposes patients to heart disease, say UC Davis ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Oct 15, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Rare B cells regulate immune responses, may offer novel treatment for autoimmune diseases

Reproducing a rare type of B cell in the laboratory and infusing it back into the body may provide an effective treatment for severe autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis, according to researchers ...

Medical research created Oct 14, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research scores advance in manipulating T-cells

(Medical Xpress)—Until recently, medical researchers had little hope of experimentally manipulating naïve T cells to study their crucial roles in immune function, because they were largely impenetrable, ...

Medical research created Oct 11, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast


Autoimmune diseases arise from an inappropriate immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the immune system mistakes some part of the body as a pathogen and attacks its own cells. This may be restricted to certain organs (e.g. in autoimmune thyroiditis) or involve a particular tissue in different places (e.g. Goodpasture's disease which may affect the basement membrane in both the lung and the kidney). The treatment of autoimmune diseases is typically with immunosuppression—medication which decreases the immune response.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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