13 ms·
Scientists discover a cause of lupus, possible way to reverse it
- ornornor 2y agoIt’ll break every other Dr. House episode.
- daftego 2y agoA question I threw at AI about the bodies production of AhR and how it relates to food Glucosinolates seems to be a key compound for the production of AhR. Has anyone tried Sulforaphane Glucosinolate supplements? This was its response. AhR itself is not found in food, but certain foods contain natural compounds that can activate or modulate the activity of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. Here is a list of foods that are known to contain high concentrations of AhR activators: Cruciferous Vegetables * Broccoli: Contains glucosinolates, which are converted to indole-3-carbinol, an AhR activator. * Brussels Sprouts: Rich in glucosinolates and indole-3-carbinol. * Cabbage: Contains glucosinolates and their breakdown products that can activate AhR. * Cauliflower: Another cruciferous vegetable high in glucosinolates. * Kale: Contains a variety of phytochemicals, including indole-3-carbinol. Berries and Fruits: * Blueberries: High in polyphenols, particularly anthocyanins, which can activate AhR. * Strawberries: Contain a variety of polyphenols and antioxidants. * Blackberries: Rich in anthocyanins and other polyphenols. * Grapes: Especially red and purple varieties, which are high in resveratrol and other polyphenols. Spices and Herbs: * Turmeric: Contains curcumin, a known AhR modulator. * Garlic: Contains organosulfur compounds that can influence AhR activity. * Ginger: Contains gingerols and shogaols, which can modulate AhR. Legumes and Beans: * Soybeans: Contain isoflavones like genistein, which can activate AhR. * Black Beans: High in various polyphenols. Nuts and Seeds: * Walnuts: Contain a variety of polyphenols and antioxidants. * Flaxseeds: High in lignans, which can have AhR-modulating effects. Teas and Beverages: * Green Tea: Contains epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a potent polyphenol that can activate AhR. * Red Wine: Contains resveratrol and other polyphenols. * Coffee: Rich in various polyphenols that can modulate AhR activity. Other Foods: * Olive Oil: Particularly extra virgin olive oil, which contains polyphenols like oleocanthal. * Dark Chocolate: High in flavonoids and polyphenols.
- ipunchghosts 2y agoI wonder if any of these findings help us better understand me/cfs.
- galangalalgol 2y agoIt has been my hope that the number of me/cfs cases would finally drive enough research into autoimmune disorders in general, that we might finally figure it out. It seems very poorly understood from an outside perspective.
- PaulKeeble 2y agoThere is no funding and since Long Covid appeared the funding for ME/CFS has completely vanished. If Long Covid ME like illness is the same then ME/CFS is getting lots of research right now, on the other hand if they turn out to be different ME/CFS patients are getting completely ignored.
- thenerdhead 2y agoMany ME experts are doing both. RECOVER is considering adding ME/CFS arms to its huge clinical trial platform. UCSF just added ME/CFS as a priority in their LIINC program. SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics won’t work on both but immune cell based ones may given they haven’t been tested in either yet. Both suggest a root cause of persistent viral antigen. Time will tell what works here.
- Elinvynia 2y agoRECOVER is the biggest scam when it comes to research unfortunately. 90% of their studies are focusing on various form of "brain exercises", CBT therapy and exercise therapy. Things that are not only proven to not work, but actually proven to harm people with ME/CFS (of which long covid patients make up a large amount).
- thenerdhead 2y ago
- BenFranklin100 2y agoAutoimmune diseases, of which lupus is but one of many, are essentially black boxes. It’s proven extraordinarily difficult to develop therapies in this area. As such, this is great news. Hopefully this research will encourage pharmaceutical and biotech companies to invest more resources into translating research findings into effective therapies. I haven’t read the paper yet, so I can’t comment on how this discovery might generalize to other autoimmune diseases, but one interesting bit about autoimmune diseases is that they tend to run in packs. This is suggestive there may be underlying mechanisms that are shared across autoimmune diseases.
- atombender 2y agoThe aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), which is key to this discovery, appears to be super relevant to psoriasis, another autoimmune disease. AhR has been known for a long time, but it seems it's been somewhat mysterious until a series of recent breakthroughs. In 2022, an AhR inhibitor called tapinarof, sold as VTAMA, was launched, and has shown itself to be one of the most effective treatments for psoriasis to date. It's also unique in that it appears to have the ability to bring lasting remission. In the main clinical trial, patients who used VTAMA for one year and then stopped had a mean remission duration of 4 months until their psoriasis returned. That is unheard of for any topical medication used on psoriasis. Blocking AhR has also shown promise in treating MS [1]. I haven't read the lupus paper, but often with papers like these, the "cause" turns out not to be the actual origin, but some cytokine or other protein that is more disease-specific than current drug targets. This lupus discovery appears to identify an imbalance that may be compensated for, but we still don't know what triggers the imbalance in the first place. In some cases diseases turn out to be a genetic fault, but my money is on pathogens acting as the initial triggering event, which then spins the immune system into a vicious cycle of autoimmunity. In psoriasis we see this with strep bacteria, for example, but the exact mechanisms are not well understood. However, the mechanism that makes psoriasis chronic has been identified, a type of T-cell called a tissue-resident memory (TRM) T-cell. This type of cell acts as a kind of biological memory for infections. [1] https://newsroom.uvahealth.com/2023/02/15/multiple-sclerosis-discovery-chronic-inflammation/ https://newsroom.uvahealth.com/2023/02/15/multiple-sclerosis...
- trhway 2y agoOn one side we have in this article : " insufficient activation of a pathway controlled by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), which regulates cells’ response to environmental pollutants, bacteria or metabolites. Insufficient activation of AHR results in too many disease-promoting immune cells, called the T peripheral helper cells, that promote the production of disease-causing autoantibodies. To show this discovery can be leveraged for treatments, the investigators returned the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-activating molecules to blood samples from lupus patients. This seemed to reprogram these lupus-causing cells into a cell called a Th22 cell that may promote wound healing from the damage caused by this autoimmune disease. “We found that if we either activate the AHR pathway with small molecule activators or limit the pathologically excessive interferon in the blood, we can reduce the number of these disease-causing cells,” On the other side quick search on AHR activation brings for example cancer related stuff like this : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10570930/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10570930/ "AHR activation to promote tumor cell intrinsic malignant properties and to suppress anti-tumor immune responses [14], [17], [18]. Specifically, the AHR drives cancer cell migration, invasion, and survival, regulates cell cycle progression and promotes cancer stem cell characteristics [14], [19], [20], [21], [22]. Simultaneously, it inhibits anti-tumor immunity " Human body by its complexity and our lack of understanding of it sometimes reminds the codebases i've worked on :) In that rabbit hole of articles on AHR there is also : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41423-020-00585-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41423-020-00585-5 "The aryl hydrocarbon receptor and the gut–brain axis" which in particular discusses what looks to me (i'm not a doctor) like a connection/correlation : gut microbes -> AHR -> glioblastoma.
- elcritch 2y agoBoth reactions make sense to me. Too much AHR activation suppresses immune response leading to cancer proliferation due immune cells not culling cancerous cells, but too little leads to auto-immune conditions. It's definitely like a large sloppy code base with lots of implicit overlaps and global effects.
- wizzwizz4 2y agoIf all you have is a hysteresis, everything looks like a chemical imbalance.
- beekaywhopper 2y agoscript writers for House are shaking in their boots
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- nadermx 2y ago"You stash your drugs in a lupus textbook?" "It's never lupus"
- shepherdjerred 2y agoEvery Time “It’s Not Lupus” https://youtube.com/watch?v=uXOxXnZoYGQ https://youtube.com/watch?v=uXOxXnZoYGQ
- adriand 2y agoOut of sheer boredom, I started watching this, and got as far as an argument about whether or not some set of symptoms was lupus. Then I closed my laptop, tired of wasting my time. I sat quietly on the couch in my living room for a moment. My wife was watching television in the next room over, at a volume where the dialogue was clearly audible, and what do I hear but a woman state, "At that time, I was diagnosed with lupus"!
- dylan604 2y agoNext, you'll see it appear in your social targeted ads. <cueOmninousMusic>
- jonplackett 2y ago90% of House MD plots ruined
- at_a_remove 2y agoLupus is kind of lousy for the punchy scientific format because it has as a nickname "The Great Imitator." (Note that the porphyrias are known as the "little imitator.") Because of this somewhat Protean nature, lupus can masquerade as quite a lot of things, leading it to be a casual element one would have to bring up and then eliminate in episode after episode. Thus, for screenwriting reasons, it needs a kind of general dismissal which would stick in the mind of viewers ...
- ramon156 2y agoI don't even need to read the article, the answer is more mouse bites
- h4l0 2y ago[flagged]
- m463 2y agobut it was never lupus anyway. mostly.
- Tagbert 2y agoIt was Agatha, all along.
- orbat 2y agoMaybe if one more painfully unfunny person repeats this tired joke that we see every time lupus is mentioned, it'll finally be funny. Let's find out!
- johnnyanmac 2y agoTo each their own. was a funny and nostalgic throwback. I haven't watched House in 15 years and haven't even seen it referenced since pre-pandemic.
- casper14 2y agoMy girlfriend has lupus, so I showed her the article. It sparked a bit of hope. She has a science background and always asks in awe "how do you find such good papers on the day they get released". She's not really the HN audience though :*)
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- mmm3 2y ago[flagged]
- hsuduebc2 2y agoLet's hope that from eczema to lupus all these mysterious autoimmune diseases would be at least explained if not eradicated.
- riley_dog 2y agoAgreed. I sure would love to eat gluten.
- wkcheng 2y agoI wonder if allergies can eventually be fixed somehow as well. There has to be an immune or autoimmune reason why some people have tons of allergies and other people are perfectly fine.
- theGnuMe 2y agoAllergies are caused by an overactive immune system. The way to overcome them is to train the immune system by exposing yourself to low doses of the allergen. Doctors do this and it’s called allergen immunotherapy. Interestingly this has been done since 1911. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-022-00786-1 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41577-022-00786-1
- anonzzzies 2y agoI used to be allergic to 100s (I could not even walk 1 meter of certain weeds and I would get blisters etc) of things until I moved away from my country 20+ years ago. I suddenly was allergic (as far as I know still now) to nothing; I accidentally came in contact with some of the worst allergens of old (as I live in nature since then) and they did nothing to our surprised. My wife who was allergic to seafood (passing out to needing epi levels) and that’s gone too, shortly after the move. I don’t know why; our doctor then didn’t know, but we chalked it up to stress; we went from depressing commute ratrace city jobs to sitting in a forest in nature doing whatever we liked. I work more hours now but they are stressless. Don’t know whatever is true, but one mistake I made was not moving earlier.
- JaggerFoo 2y agoNick Cannon, host of "The Masked Singer" America, would be glad to hear this. He has Lupus. Now all he needs is a cure for poor "Pull-Out" game syndrome. Cheers
- erichanson 2y agoMy sister just got diagnosed with lupus.
- bionhoward 2y agoAnybody have a PDF? Would love to learn more!
- zeagle 2y agoThis group presented an abstract at ACR in the fall prior so it's nice to see it published now. https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/cxcl13-t-cell-differentiation-in-systemic-lupus-erythematosus-is-controlled-by-opposing-effects-of-aryl-hydrocarbon-receptor-and-type-i-interferon/ https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/cxcl13-t-cell-differentiat... if you don't have journal access to the Nature article. Kudos to them for landing a nature publication but I really would temper this level of excitement (??a top link on HN??) at a basic science research publication discussed in a press release from a university highlighting it's researchers. My read is it is down to decreased CXCL13 expression and type I interferon expression in blood of a small number of patients, controls, and cell culture which gives direction for further study. CXCL13 was published as a possible RA biomarker half a decade ago and crickets since then clinically. Is it causal or a consequence of chronic inflammation? Type I interferon signature has been looked at heavily for over a decade and is clearly relevant in SLE but still only just over about half of lupus patients have it and the signature is by definition broad expression of hundreds of genes that affect innate and adaptive immune system components. We DO need better treatments for lupus patients but it's a very variable disease in severity, clinically, and in terms of biomarkers making it difficult. I mean the best drug that everyone with lupus should be on barring a good reason is an old antimalarial (that doesn't treat COVID) and then we add to it. If you are interested in other new-ish therapies for lupus take a look at anifrolumab, belimumab, voclosporin, and even newer CAR T stuff. Important to consider the manifestations being treated with those in the studies e.g. belimumab with skin, joint, kidney but nothing for hematologic/cardiac/neurologic manifestations.
- Kalanos 2y agoI don't have much context, but the identification of the AHR receptor for the CXCL seems like the exciting part. From what I understand, it is easy enough to design an antibody once you know the right receptor to target
- fasa99 2y agoExactly. When our car doesn't run well, a car with perhaps 20,000 parts, we take it to the mechanic who says "yup, issue was your spark plug, fixed". And even then, of course, the car issue may have been multifactorial. Maybe the spark plug failed because the fuel/air mix was off, for example, the spark plug was the symptom. But then we leap from the car with 20,000 parts to a body with a trillion cells each cell with a trillion molecules. The calculus of the fuel/air mix and the spark plug has now been blown out of proportion, as challenging as conceiving a 20 dimensional manifold or the size of the universe. And so my reservation with a paper like this, and in general, is people say, "yup, sure was the spark plug" and then get accolades and a Nature paper, when the core issue was the air fuel mix, the air fuel mix that is, times a trillion cells, times a trillion molecules. And I can't blame the authors. No shame in shooting for Nature and succeeding. No shame in these simplistic models, each one takes us a step further. But somewhere along the lines we're going to have think about the R&D of the big picture in non-hand-wavey ways.
- mmm3 2y ago[flagged]
- notheyarent 2y agothey aren’t cell diseases. It is plant toxins either leaking into the blood stream through intestinal permeability or a problem with peoples livers being fatty and not able to do their job anymore resulting in the bodies inability to remove plant toxins. The toxins cause an immune reaction wherever they build up , rheumatoid arthritis if it’s the joints of the legs and arms etc. Plant toxins include pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, both human created and sprayed on and natural ones to stop animals and bugs eating them. They also include glysophate Thousands of people on Reddit have put Rheumatoid arthritis and other Auto immune diseases into remission using the carnivore diet. Ie manually removing Plant toxins from their food and not letting the toxins enter their damaged bodies
- atombender 2y agoFunnily enough you have another poster [1] saying the exact opposite, that meat makes their symptoms worse, and eating plant foods makes their symptoms go away. Whenever the carnivore diet comes up as a panacea (which it does, a lot), I wonder if people tried anything else. Did they try reintroducing plant foods to test their hypothesis? Personally, I bet that it's not the diet itself that helps in most cases, but that the very act of changing one's diet radically alters the gut microbiome. People with autoimmune diseases usually have a dysbiotic gut flora, so it makes sense that a radical change would "reset" it. However, this would suggest that reintroducing foods should work, unless you reintroduce things that bring back the imbalance. Anecdotally, my psoriasis disappeared after I switched to a strict vegetarian diet. I can't prove it, though, so I don't go on Reddit making unscientific claims I can't back up with evidence. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40937383 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40937383
- geewee 2y agoIf these toxins build up in animal cells - why would you eating meat (that must then have a much higher concentration) not expose you to the same toxins?
- notheyarent 2y ago[flagged]
- dpeckett 2y agoFascinating stuff, it's interesting to read that the main ligands of the AhR (Aryl hydrocarbon receptor) are PAHs (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and that activation of the AhR receptor improves the markers of Lupus. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are nasty, carcinogenic, molecules that are commonly found in smoke, tar, and char. Basically burnt organic matter. On the other side of the coin AhR is also activated by a bunch of Polyphenols, which are found in a variety of plant derived foods. Does this mean, it is possible that Lupus (and Psoriasis) are diseases of affluence caused by processed food (low in Polyphenols), and a reduced exposure to smoke byproducts in the environment?
- NetOpWibby 2y agoThat’s wild, if true.
- ta988 2y agoSmoking is supposed to be a risk factor so who knows.
- dpeckett 2y agoMan biology is weird, yeh it looks like for Lupus and Psoriasis it pretty much doubles the risk of developing it.
- caddemon 2y agoThere's definitely a genetic component but it would be interesting if those environmental factors impacted prevalence or severity. Autoimmune disorders in general might be worse/more common in countries where kids grow up in clean environments. There's already some discussion on this with regard to allergies that I think has some credibility.
- biosboiii 2y agoWhatever, it's never Lupus.
- marton78 2y agoSometimes it is, a dear friend of mine is suffering from it. It's a really bad illness.
- instakill 2y agoCame here for the House comment. Amazing how that show owned this word
- andruby 2y agoI have a t-shirt with that comment. A few years later, a family member gets diagnosed with Lupus. I stopped wearing the t-shirt.
- greenish_shores 2y agoSomebody pls upload this https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07627-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07627-2 on sci-hub.
- ck2 2y agotry LibSTC
- ta988 2y agoIt says "Sorry, the file is absent :("
- ck2 2y agoI am sure it will be there eventually. This is a preprint of the abstract to the paper and I know there are some very smart people on HN but if you can grasp this you are in an entirely much higher orbit https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/cxcl13-t-cell-differentiation-in-systemic-lupus-erythematosus-is-controlled-by-opposing-effects-of-aryl-hydrocarbon-receptor-and-type-i-interferon/ https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/cxcl13-t-cell-differentiat... What's interesting is that AHR is also involved in Covid infections so this will highly likely be further researched.
- ta988 2y agoThat's my domain so yeah I'm in that orbit.
- anonymous344 2y ago[flagged]
- humanlity 2y agoMy father got this, I truly hope that can cure he
- rpaddock 2y agoThe Nightshade family of plants, which are very common in our diets, can mimic the symptoms of Lupus. That food sensitivity needs ruled out when diagnosing the cause of Lupus.
- ta988 2y agoDo you have research that shows that? What I've read is that there was no real evidence of that.
- weberer 2y agoHe's likely referring to solanine poisoning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solanine
- rpaddock 2y agoYes. Also "inflammation and pain in the joints" can be mistaken for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). We discovered the hard-way that my late wife had issues with this. Multiple doctors diagnosed her with both RA and Lupus. When we got the Nightshades out of her diet and switched to more natural based cleaning products, such as Hemp based soap, shampoo and vinegar for cleaning, her symptoms of RA and Lupus went away. An good allergist finds things like this.
- primer42 2y agoSomeone page Dr House!
- mayormcmatt 2y agoIt's not lupus!
- aroopchandra 2y agoI was diagnosed with lupus a few years ago. My mom also had it and passed away after 10 years due to complications. My initial symptoms were severe joint pains, which made daily activities difficult. This happened during the COVID lockdown, which helped me maintain my job. I did a lot of research and tried various treatments. Functional medicines and expensive vitamins didn’t help. I read about long-term fasting and tried different routines at home. I did several 1-day, 3-day, and 7-day fasts. During the 7-day fasts, my pain disappeared, but it returned once I resumed eating. This led me to believe that food was causing inflammation. Previously, I ate a lot of lean meat and occasional red meat. I then cut down to eating meat once a week and ate mostly raw leafy vegetables the rest of the time. My pain would come back after eating meat and decrease over the week. I eventually stopped eating meat entirely and consumed a ton on greens, and within six weeks, I was pain-free. I also tried Benlysta for months, but it didn’t help much. Vegetables seemed to reduce my inflammation more effectively. I stopped taking Benlysta but continued regular blood tests. After a year, my doctor agreed I could stop the medication. I’ve been in remission for the last two years with no pain or inflammation. I hope this helps, though it’s just my personal experience.
- xdrone 2y agoIn the vegan community there is lost of discussion of animal products causing auto immune issues. A compromised gut lining will let intact animal proteins into the body. The immune sees the animal foreigners but also attacks our body; us being animals too. Type 1 diabetes, aka childhood diabetes, is thought to be from casein in A1 milk; where the immune system attacks the beta cells of the pancreas. Seems plausible to me; rates of dairy consumption seem to correlate with type 1. (see Finland).
- aroopchandra 2y agoI also read this in multiple places and trusted it. At least that's how I internalized my condition when I started the experiment.
- valgor 2y agoFunny enough, I mentioned not eating meat on another hackernews thread today and someone told me I'm going to get an autoimmune disease.
- spdustin 2y agoHLA-B27 is directly related to a number of autoimmune disorders, including lupus. I hope this research can expand to other conditions associated with HLA-B27, like psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, etc.