Autoimmune Disorders - Hemolytic Anemia Essay examples

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.

The exact cause of celiac disease is not known, but scientists have found that it is genetic, meaning that if someone in your family has celiac then you have a high percent chance of having it too (The Mayo Clinic Staff, 2011). Even though there is no known cause of this disease, scientists do know that in a person without celiac the

     Lupus is a potentially life threatening disease that effects about 1.5 million Americans. Lupus can effect many different parts of the body. Lupus is a type of autoimmune system disorder in which the body cannot distinguish the difference between foreign antibodies and its own organs. So basically what happens is that the body ends up attacking its own organs thinking they are foreign substances. (The Lupus Foundation of America)

The immune system plays a vital role in helping the body to fight diseases, as well as pathogens, the disease-causing factors. It is mainly composed of the tonsils and adenoids, the lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels, the spleen, appendix, and bone marrow. The main purpose of the immune system is to assist the body in its struggle to maintain optimal health.

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 does not have a known cause, and because of that it has no known cure. The exact cause of lupus is unknown, but scientists suspect that it is likely to be a combination of factors, people who contract lupus are probably genetically predisposed to lupus, and know that environmental factors such as infections, antibodies, ultraviolet light, extreme stress and certain drugs play a critical role in

Lupus is an autoimmune disease where your own immune system attacks not only pathogens, but your own healthy tissue. It is one of the more severe autoimmune diseases and can seriously impair the life of the sufferer if left untreated, possibly leading to death.

The main thing doctors do to treat sickle-cell anemia is to avoid complications. They measure the patient’s height and weight to make sure they are growing properly. The doctors also monitor blood pressure to prevent strokes. Doctors also do blood and urine tests to see if there is organ damage or kidney problems. They also do TCD testing or brain ultrasounds to prevent strokes. They also do eye examines to prevent loss of vision. Sickle-cell anemia is caused only by having two mutated hemoglobin genes.

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

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

Sickle Cell Anemia is a hereditary disease that changes the smallest and most important components of the body. A gene causes the bone marrow in the body to make sickled shapes, when this happens; it causes the red blood cell to die faster. This is what causes Hemolytic Anemia. Older children and adults with sickle cell disease may experience a few complications, or have a pattern of ongoing problems that shorten their lives. The most common and serious complications of sickle cell disease are anemia, pain, fatigue, and organ failure. Today there are many alternatives and opportunities that a sickle cell patient may consider. One outlined in this paper is the Hydroxyurea method.

Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (ALPS) is a heritable genetic disease, marked by mis-regulated lymphoproliferation, due to an inoperative FAS/FASL apoptotic pathway in lymphocytes (Sneller et al.1992). An immune response generates large amounts lymphocytes, to contend with pathogen insults, and the subsequent dispatch of the pathogen. The immune response then requires suppression of the activated lymphocytes, terminating the immune response. This suppression is facilitated by the cell-mediated process of apoptosis. During the suppression of the immune response, T lymphocytes express FAS and other B and T lymphocytes generate FASL (Nagata & Golstein 1995). The expression of FAS and FASL are the prerequisite components of FAS/FASL apoptosis, and any dysfunction of this pathway negates the ability of the immune system to regulate the suppression of activated lymphocytes. Mis-regulatiuon, of the activated lymphocytes, causes an inordinate population of T lymphocytes, which inappropriately target host tissues leading to ALPS. There are several subcategories of the ALPS disease, each is distinguished by an individual gene mutation, producing several diverse proteins that constitute the FAS/FASL apoptotic pathway. This brief synopsis will focus on the ALPS attributed mutation of the FAS gene, classified as ALPS 1A, which constitutes 75% proportion of ALPS cases (Bleesing et al. 2005).

These diseases are caused by hereditary or genetic defects, and, although some disorders present at birth or in early childhood, the disorders can affect anyone, regardless of age or gender. Some affect a single part of the immune system; others may affect one or more components of the system.

Our immune system is the second most complex system in our body. It is made up of organs, cells and proteins that work together to protect our bodies from harmful bacteria, viruses or other microorganisms that can cause diseases. Usually we don’t notice our immune system defending us against pathogens, but if the pathogen (harmful microorganism) is aggressive or if our body hasn’t ever come into contact with it, we can get sick. The jobs of our immune system are to recognise pathogens, as well as neutralise and remove them from our body. Our immune system also has to fight our own cells if they have changed due to an illness, for example, cancer. (1)