Promt 2 – autoimmune diseases
In chapter 2, Moalem talks about different types of
diabetes. According to Moalem, while
Type 2 diabete can be managed just by healthier habits, Type 1 diabetes needs
insulin injections. According to page 24
and 25, Because of Type 1 diabetes’ severity, researchers believe Type 1 diabetes
is an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune
disease is when your body’s defense system attacks cells that are not invaders.
Clearly, an
autoimmune disease relates to the big idea 3, because the organisms with
autoimmune disease aren’t able to recognize some cell signaling, and this
causes the body to attack these unrecognizable cells that shouldn’t be foreign or
even dangerous. Moreover, autoimmune
disease will go further to cause some vital mitosis to shut down even though
the cell growth is not potentially dangerous.
Diabetes is often seen as a disease that can be healed by
healthier habits such as exercising and eating healthier. Can healthy habits help with an autoimmune
disease or is autoimmune disease caused only by inheritance? Also what other diseases are autoimmune
disease, and what similarities are seen between these diseases?
(Woosik Choi- wchoi3@students.d125.org)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAn autoimmune disease is a disease where the bodies immune system mistakenly attacks healthy body cells. This happens when the bodies immune system can properly identify the MHC of its own body.
ReplyDeleteIn truth much less is known about autoimmune diseases than many other diseases. Just like how on page Moalem states, "The truth is we don't fully understand.", in reference to the causes of diabetes. While we don't understand everything about the causes of autoimmune diseases, scientists at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics discussed how siblings and twins of a person with an auto immune disease have a higher chance of having an autoimmune disease. This shows a definite correlation between genetics and autoimmune diseases. Using micro arrays and other genetic devices it was determined that there is an "autoimmune signature" common in patients with autoimmune disease. This would point to the fact that auto immune diseases are purely hereditary, however the same people also say that it is not that simple. Sometimes immediate family members of autoimmune patients that appear to have the autoimmune signature are unaffected by an autoimmune disease. This suggests that environmental factors and lifestyle choices may have an impact on the cause of autoimmune diseases. Further evidence is provided by an article from Science Daily titled "Excess dietary salt may drive the development of autoimmune diseases". In modern day society a rise in autoimmune diseases has been observed as compared to past years. This article hypothesizes that the reason for a higher rate of auto immune diseases in recent years is the higher salt diet nowadays. This would prove that outside factors like salt intake effect the likeliness of autoimmune diseases. Although further research is necessary there appears to be a clear connection between salt intake and autoimmune diseases.
The way that all these things relate ties into Big idea # 4 " Biological systems interact, and these systems and there interactions possess complex properties". The immune system interacts with the body in order to keep it safe. However these interactions are complex and can even be thrown off by something like an increased intake of salt.
Other autoimmune disease include Lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn's disease. All autoimmune diseases have the same trait of causing one's own immune system to attack healthy cells. However other than that connection, many autoimmune diseases are quite different. Different autoimmune disease attack different organs and can have totally different symptoms.
(Tom Shaw tshaw4@students.d125.org)