Many people around the globe suffer from an immune system that can't differentiate between healthy cells, invader bacteria and disease. The defenses against diseases that were once protecting them are instead attacking their tissue and organs.
International research is underway to counter the growing trend. This includes a project at London's Francis Crick Institute where two world-renowned experts, James Lee, and Carola Vinuesa have created separate research groups that will determine the causes of autoimmune diseases.
Numbers of autoimmune cases started to rise around 40 years ago in the West, Lee told the Observer. However, these illnesses are now showing up in nations that haven't experienced them before.
For instance the Middle East/East Asia is the region that has seen the highest recent rise in inflammatory-bowel disease cases. They'd never seen the disease.
Autoimmune diseases range from type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis inflammation of the bowel, and even multiple sclerosis. In all cases the immune system gets activated and begins to turn on healthy tissues.
These ailments have been documented in at least 4million people in the UK. A few sufferers could suffer from more than one. In the world, it's estimated that cases of autoimmune diseases are growing by between 3% and 9% a year. Numerous researchers believe that environmental factors play a major role in this rise.
Human genetics hasn't altered over the last few years, according to Lee, who was previously located at Cambridge University. There must be something taking place outside that is increasing our risk of developing autoimmune disorders.
This notion was endorsed by Vinuesa, who was previously an instructor at the Australian National University. She pointed to the changes in food habits that were taking place as more nations adopted western-style eating habits and people bought more fast food.
Vinuesa explained that some essential ingredients in fast food diets are not present which includes fiber. It is known that altering the microbiome (the collection of microorganisms that we have in our digestive system) could lead to a loss in certain body functions.
The changes in our microbiomes can trigger autoimmune disease, of which more than 100 have been diagnosed.
Both scientists stressed that individual risk factors were involved in contracting these illnesses. These ailments also comprise celiac diseases as well with lupus, which causes inflammation and swelling and can cause harm to different organs, such as the heart.
Vinuesa stated "If you don’t have a genetic predisposition to autoimmune disorders it is unlikely that you will develop one, regardless of how many Big Macs your consume." "There isn't anything we can do to halt the worldwide spread of fast-food franchises. Instead, we're trying discover the genetic factors that cause autoimmune disease and why certain individuals are more susceptible to it. "We want to deal with the problem at this point."
With the development of technology, scientists are in a position to detect small differences in people's DNA. This allows us to find common genetic patterns among patients suffering from autoimmune diseases.
Lee explained that the ability to sequence large quantities of DNA has changed everything. We didn't have this technology until the last few years. Inflammatory bowel disease was only one of the DNA variants that we could identify at the time I started my study. There are now over 250.
This is the heart of the work done by Lee and Vinuesa. They are trying to understand the functions of different genetic pathways and to discover the different kinds of diseases that doctors are currently studying. Vinuesa said there could be multiple versions of certain autoimmune disorders, like Lupus. It is crucial to recognize that this can have consequences when trying to determine the correct treatment.
While there are a myriad of efficient new therapies currently in development, we don't yet know which people they ought to be administered to. This is because we do not know the exact type of their condition. This is the main goal of the field of autoimmune research. It is essential to learn how to stratify and group patients so that you can give them the best treatment.
Lee stated that due to the rise in autoimmune diseases all over the globe, new treatments and medicines are required more urgently than ever before. Lee also said that there's currently no cure for autoimmune disorders. These tend to are seen in children trying to complete their education, find work, and then start families.
It means that an increasing amount of people need to have surgery or will require regular injections throughout their entire life. It's a bleak time for patients and a massive pressure on health services. Therefore, it is crucial to discover new, efficient treatments.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease. It is caused by the immune system attacks healthy body tissue. It's still not understood what causes this.
The antibodies your immune system produces to fight viruses and bacteria are the ones you require to fight off infection.
If you have Rheumatoid Arthritis the immune system sends antibodies into your joints in the lining, which target the tissues around them.
This causes the thin cell-like layer that covers your joints (synovium), to become irritated and painful and releases chemicals that cause harm nearby.
bones
cartilage - the stretchy connective tissue between bones
Tendons - connects muscles to bone
Ligaments These are the tissues which connects cartilage and bones.
If the issue is not addressed, it will gradually result in the loss of joint alignment and form. It could eventually lead to total destruction of the joint.
There have been a variety of theories about the reason why the immune system attacks the joints. For example Check out the possibility of an infection could be the trigger. However , none of these theories has been proven.
Possible risk factors
Rheumatoid arthritis can be caused by a number of causes, including:
The genes you carry - There is some evidence Read More to suggest that the rheumatoid arthritis condition can be passed down through families. But the chance of it passing to a child is very low since genes only play an important role in the condition.
hormones - rheumatoid arthritis is more common in women than in men. This may be because of the impacts of the hormone oestrogen although this link has not been established.
Smoking is a major risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis. Some evidence supports this.