The human body has so many systems working together so that life can be possible, each molecule has a reason to be, a function to fulfill, and from this .Andrea a balance is achieved which is what allows life, we could say that it is an almost perfect machine.
This last is good to highlight, almost, because it is the reality, there are some times that the defense systems that we have and that protect us from diseases tend to work wrong, having an incorrect reading of what is normal, classifying it as "abnormal or foreign" and attacks it, causing damage to the own tissue, this action of attacking the own is what we call Autoimmunity, and it is part of what I want to explain below.
Our immune system has several lines of defense against incoming microorganisms that somehow intend to do harm.
The immune system is in charge of this task, and it can carry it out in several ways. Below I will present a series of images where I will schematically show the main ways of doing it:
- The first one I share with you is Phagocytosis, in which a special cell, called "phagocytes ", upon recognizing that a cell is infected by virus, or if it is a bacterium, or when it is something foreign to the body, literally swallows this cell or bacterium or element, and having it in its interior puts it in contact with chemical substances that it produces and destroys them.
- The second is a way in which specialized cells recognize what is not their own, generally because on the surface of the cell foreign to the body they have proteins that are recognized and cause a mechanism to be activated by means of which this cell that detects them calls through the release of chemical substances to other cells to attack, and in this way destroy the "invader ".
Schematically I will show you the process below.
I must say that both systems that I have discussed above are carried out in parallel, which offers a greater line of coverage against possible attacks by external agents, always, after this "cellular battle ", in the tissues where they are fought, some damages occur that are quickly repaired, this being the natural process.
Once this process is understood, I consider that it is much easier to understand what happens in an autoimmune disease, where the basis is the immune system does not recognize the specific tissue as its own, and attacks it to destroy it. You will understand, I must assume at this point, that what I have explained so far, these defense mechanisms of our body, are activated against the same cells, using everything they have at their disposal to destroy it.
Considering the above, the symptomatology will be very diverse, and it will depend on the area that is affected in this way.
Therefore, I will use an example of a disease, unfortunately very common, so that you can finish visualizing what I have explained so far. I have recently talked about Type 1 Diabetes, this is an example of an autoimmune disease, where the body's immune cells attack the beta cells of the pancreas, which are responsible for producing insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar levels. When these cells are destroyed, they cannot produce insulin and therefore, glycemia levels remain permanently elevated.
A clear and typical example is the one I just mentioned, but let's talk about another one, also quite common, rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that affects the joints. Literally the articular surface is attacked by the immune system, which produces a process of destruction and inflammation, which ends up radically limiting the mobility of the affected joint, producing inflammation, increased local temperature, redness. Different joints are affected, and the overall effects this has on the person's life will depend on the joint that is involved.
You may be wondering: **Why is this happening?
The specific cause is not known. It is assumed that it is some genetic alteration that produces it, and that it is of hereditary character, since it is evident that there are families that have the tendency to suffer from the same disease, as in the case of type 1 diabetes, for example, where several members of the same family can present the disease.
There are factors that could trigger the expression of the gene or not, but beyond that, more specific information is not available at the moment.
Is an immunological disease curable?, the truth is that no, since the specific cause is not known, it is very difficult to cure it completely, however, at present the tendency is to treat the symptoms so that the person has a life as normal as possible, where steroids are the first line of treatment, since it decreases the immune response as well as the inflammatory response.
Conclusion
In light of current knowledge we can only say that treatment is based on limiting the immune response so that the disease does not progress so quickly, in addition to treating the symptomatology.
Unfortunately limiting the immune response brings with it a sensitization to other diseases as a consequence, thus leaving a complex panorama for these patients, hopefully sooner rather than later researchers in this field will achieve a definitive solution.
For reading my publication, thank you very much.
