Although autoimmune disease (AD) affects both genders, women are at an overwhelming disadvantage. Of the approximate 8 percent of the population affected by AD, a whopping 78 percent of those cases are women (NCBI). The National Institutes of Health has officially designated autoimmune disease as a major women’s health issue. Autoimmunity in and of itself… Continue reading Three New Scientific Theories to Explain Why Women Are More Susceptible to Autoimmune Disease than Men Are
Tag: autoimmune
What You Need to Know about Psoriasis
Unlike beauty, psoriasis is more than skin deep. In fact, recent research links the inflammatory skin disorder, in its more serious forms, to greater incidence of early death. Authors of that research report that patients with 10 percent or more of their body covered by psoriasis are at double risk of dying. That finding is… Continue reading What You Need to Know about Psoriasis
Baking Soda Could Be an Inexpensive, Safe Way to Combat Autoimmune Diseases
Drinking a daily dose of baking soda dissolved in water may help reduce the destructive inflammation of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, according to scientists at Medical College of Augusta University in Georgia. The report was published in April 2018 in the Journal of Immunology. A release from the university notes that the research team… Continue reading Baking Soda Could Be an Inexpensive, Safe Way to Combat Autoimmune Diseases
A New Understanding of Women and Multiple Sclerosis
Scientists now have new insight why women are likelier than men to develop autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS). The finding, detailed in a paper published in The Journal of Immunology, focuses on a type of white blood cell, the innate lymphoid cell, that exhibits different immune activities in males versus females. “Women are… Continue reading A New Understanding of Women and Multiple Sclerosis
New Hope for Psoriasis Patients
A human antibody may help people who are suffering from psoriasis, an autoimmune illness that affects skin. Many patients showed significant recovery after just a single dose, and by the end of the trial, conducted at Rockefeller University and seven other centers, nearly all the patients showed dramatic, if not complete, improvement in their symptoms,… Continue reading New Hope for Psoriasis Patients
The Molecule that Fights Psoriasis
Researchers have discovered how IL-4 can fight psoriasis on a molecular level. Scientists have known that Interleukin 4, also known as IL-4, an endogenous signal molecule, inhibits the inflammation that is characteristic of psoriasis. But until now, it wasn’t clear exactly how that happened. Inflammation defends the body against invaders. But sometimes poorly directed immune… Continue reading The Molecule that Fights Psoriasis
A New Understanding: Why the Immune System Doesn’t Always Fight Back
Researchers have drawn closer to understanding why the immune-system process can go wrong. The investigators, from Johns Hopkins, focused on how the immune system chooses bits of protein to turn into so-called dominant epitopes. In a typical immune-system reaction, white blood cells are programmed to fight dominant epitopes. To further understand that process, a team… Continue reading A New Understanding: Why the Immune System Doesn’t Always Fight Back