6 ms·
Wonderful Progress Against Severe Lupus
- sylware 4y agoWhen you start to look at the human immune system, you realize that the human body is a biological war complex machine at the microscopic level.
- tech2 4y agoGreat news! Now a request for similar research against Type I/Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus.
- rpaddock 4y agoFood sensitives to the Nightshade family of plants, common in our diets, can mimic the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus. When my late wife got these, and other common house hold chemicals like shampoo, out of our lives her symptoms went away.
- LesZedCB 4y agothere has been some really incredible progress in immunology recently. my partner deals with some immune system issues and the new therapies have made an incredible change in her quality of life, though there's still a long way to go. i am a mere programmer so my understanding is limited but i was really impressed with Immune by Philipp Dettmer[1] of Kurzgesagt on youtube. it helped immensely with getting my bearings and being able to understand a good chunk of the systems involved at a high level. i tried my partners undergrad immunology textbook afterwards and it was overwhelming, so Immune is a great balance. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57423646-immune https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57423646-immune
- stbenjam 4y agoImmune was a very good read. The analogies go off the rails a few times but the complexity of the immune system explained so well to lay people is incredible. I still remember the hot dog buns!
- 6177c40f 4y agoI've not read it myself, but An Elegant Defense [1] by Matt Richtel has come highly recommended to me. My understanding is that it takes a more human-interest angle, but also does a good job explaining how the immune system works and how it can go wrong at a high level. May be worth checking out as well. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41806641-an-elegant-defense https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41806641-an-elegant-defe...
- Gatsky 4y agoThis is indeed big news, and an important proof of principle. I suspect in the long term these cell therapies may have their most fruitful applications in non-malignant disease.
- rswerve 4y agoThis is so well-written.
- tootie 4y agoDerek Lowe is a must-read. His writing is simultaneously accessible and highly technical and he covers a lot of interesting medical topics.
- 6177c40f 4y agoDerek Lowe is one of my favorite bloggers for sure. I also really like his "Things I Won't Work With" series, for example: https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-work-azidoazide-azides-more-or-less https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-wor...
- tootie 4y agoThis is amazing. I wonder if the technique can be applied to other autoimmune disorders.
- pfdietz 4y agoI wonder if it can be applied to preventing rejection in organ transplants.
- mbStavola 4y agoIt's really exciting to see all these positive results coming from therapies involving our own immune system. I never thought I'd see the day where I could imagine both cancer and autoimmune disorders being "solved" in my lifetime, but here we are.
- yosito 4y agoOn the level of science, this is amazing. On the level of patient care, we have a long way to go, even with properly diagnosing people with immune conditions. The science is there, but the medical system is not keeping up.
- namuol 4y agoThis has pretty much always been the worst bottleneck, sadly. I worry there aren’t enough incentives for the industry to change its ways.
- DoreenMichele 4y agoGood news. I hate the entire concept of autoimmune disease and I'm waiting for someone to announce it's something else going on that was previously overlooked, but as condition management goes, this sounds like a big leap in quality of life in cases where it works.
- perlgeek 4y agoKinda like the whole Dark Energy thing in physics, I still hope for a better explanation, some day. BTW I've once read a hypothesis that severe pandemics (like the black death) select for individuals with highly active immune systems, which in turn increases the rate of autoimmune diseases. Not sure what to make of it, but it would explain why it's more common than we might otherwise expect.
- colordrops 4y agoWhat leads you to believe that autoimmune disease is not real?
- DoreenMichele 4y agoI have a serious condition in which it's common for people to essentially conclude "The fire fighters are burning down buildings. Let's ban them!" So I am skeptical that the body simply randomly attacks itself. I suspect it's attacking something that's actually wrong, we just aren't seeing it...yet.
- wincy 4y agoLike how taking acid reducers seems like a great idea in the short term, when doing so leads to earlier onset of dementia because viruses and bacteria might slip through due to a less acidic digestive tract?
- DoreenMichele 4y agoI'm not personally familiar with that example, but if that's accurate, yes.
- ck2 4y agoJust a reminder in the US "health care" system, insurance will never cover any treatment considered experimental even if it is shown to be remarkably effective. This is what people keep voting for.