Are Autoimmune Diseases Killing You?

Autoimmune disease- any of a large group of diseases characterized by abnormal functioning of the immune system that causes your immune system to produce antibodies against your own tissues (the definition from wordnetweb.pronceton.edu).

As I was doing my research I came across the autoimmune part and totally lost. It’s a breakdown in the immune system. As we know every person produces their own cell types that fight off disease and infection. In order to fight off the bad bacteria our bodies must be able to recognize the bad known as antigens (often proteins) on the surface of the UN wanted invaders. Everyone’s immune system should be able to recognize the bad, and be able to fight it off. In an autoimmunity this is where the immune system is not able to recognize the invaders and fight them off.

Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease of unknown cause that can affect virtually any part of the body. The medical term for Lupus is Systemic Lupus Erythematosus or better known as SLE. With Lupus there is a malfunction in some of the cells of the immune system. "In Lupus, the body overreacts to an unknown stimulus and makes to many antibodies, or proteins directed against body tissue. Thus, Lupus is called an autoimmune disease. ”#

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that attacks women between the ages of 15 and 40. It occurs less often in men than in women. The people affected by lupus vary depending on the country or region. In the US alone, the prevalence rate is highest among Asians of Hawaii, blacks of Caribbean origin, and Native Americans of the Sioux, Arapahoe, and Crow tribes. Lupus is a disease that affects the immune system. We can think of the immune system as an army within the body with hundreds of defenders (known as antibodies). They defend the body from attack by germs and viruses. In lupus, however, the immune system becomes overactive and creates antibodies that attack healthy tissues in the body, such as: the skin, kidneys, lungs, heart and brain.

Addison 's disease affects about 1 in 100,000 people. Most diagnosed cases are caused because the adrenal cortex has been damaged over time by a person 's own immune system. Autoimmune disorders happen when the immune system produces antibodies in order to attack the

The immune system is made up of trillions of specialised cells (white blood cells) that detect and destroy pathogens or their toxins. Some white blood cells, which are

A disorder where the body is attacking itself is known as an autoimmune disorder. In an autoimmune disorder the body cannot decipher between a pathogen, bacteria, or infection attacking the body and normal healthy body tissue. The majority of autoimmune disorders are long lasting or even permanent. An example of a chronic autoimmune disorder is multiple sclerosis (MS).

Lupus is an autoimmune inflammatory that occurs mostly in women. Lupus causes joint pain, multiple red lesions on the body. With time disorder can progress into a life-threatening issues involving the heart, kidneys, lungs and other vital organs. Lupus is disease in which the immune system fights against the body. The immune system is designed to fight against unwanted organisms and bacteria but does not attack its own body tissues. Lupus is a genetic disease that is inherited. There is no cause of the disease but is linked to genes and chromosomes. The disease can be triggered due to environmental factors. Such as: smoking, stress, infection, medication, antibiotics and much more. Lupus is hard to diagnose until there is damage to the

To understand autoimmune diseases, the general characteristic of autoimmunity must be addressed. Autoimmunity is defined, in short, as “ misdirected immune response”. A healthy person is equipped with the mechanisms necessary to defend the body from pathogens within the immune system. When autoimmunity is present in an individual, something within the immune system is

Some recent studies have reported that people diagnosed with Lupus have a significantly increased risk for Cancer, particularly leukemia and lymphoma. While this may make sense, at first glance, based upon the fact that Lupus is an autoimmune disease and, therefore, the immune system is compromised, there is still some question remaining as to whether higher incidents of leukemia and lymphoma occur in Lupus patients than within the general population. Exploring this topic would involve analyzing the incidence of comorbid Lupus & Cancer compared to Cancer in the absence of Lupus and Cancer in comorbidity with other autoimmune disorders.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease. The disease cause and initiating antigen in RA are unknown. The prevalence Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is about 1% of the human population worldwide and in women is twice that in men.

The immune system consists of a defense system that guards the body against invasion from infections and other diseases. Normally, a healthy person's immune system has the capability to differentiate between its own cells and cells that represent threats to the health of the body. (Craft and Kanter, 2002). Autoimmune disease refers to a broad range of over 80 acute, long-lasting diseases that affect nearly every organ in the body. (Wrong Diagnosis.com, 2000).

Antigens are substances that provoke an immune response (they're the ultimate target for the immune system). Antibodies are simply proteins that are secreted as a result of the antigen provoked immune response. In short, antigens cause the disease and

The immune system is comprised of two responses: the adaptive immune response and the innate immune response. The first line of defence against invading organisms is classified as the innate immune response and the second line of defence and protection against re- exposure to the same pathogen is known as the adaptive immune response.

The detection of autoantibodies against intracellular targets called antinuclear antibodies (ANA) is important in the diagnosis of systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARD) such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjögren's syndrome (SjS), mixed connective tissue diseases (MCTD), systemic sclerosis (SSc) and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM). Testing for ANA is therefore a logical first step in the differential evaluation of patients when systemic autoimmune etiology is suspected. Timely diagnosis of SARD is challenging due to the wide spectrum of overlapping symptoms. Furthermore, while the frequency of ANA is highest in patients with SARD, these antibodies are also found in