Autoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body attacks its own cells. Autoimmune diseases are a major cause of immune-mediated diseases, and are commonly referred to as Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases (AIID).
Gender influence
Nearly 79% of autoimmune disease patients in the USA are women. Also they tend to appear during or shortly after puberty. It is not known why this is the case, although hormone levels have been shown to affect the severity of some autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.[1] Other causes may include the presence of fetal cells in the maternal bloodstream. [2]
Autoimmune diseases
It is possible to classify autoimmune diseases by corresponding type of hypersensitivity: type II, type III, or type IV. (No type of autoimmune disease mimics type I hypersensitivity.)[3]
Name | Accepted/ suspected |
Hypersensitivity | Autoantibody |
Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) | Accepted[4] | ||
Addison’s disease | Accepted[4] | ||
Ankylosing spondylitis | Accepted[4] | ||
Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS) | Accepted[4] | ||
Autoimmune hemolytic anemia | Accepted[5] | II | |
Autoimmune hepatitis | Accepted[4] | Anti-Smooth Muscle Actin | |
Autoimmune inner ear disease | Suspected[6] | ||
Bullous pemphigoid | Accepted[5] | II | Anti-Bullous Pemphigoid Antigen 1 and 2 (Hemidesmosome antigens) |
Coeliac disease | Accepted[7][8][9] | IV | Anti-transglutaminase |
Chagas disease | Suspected[10] | ||
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | Suspected[11] [12] | ||
Dermatomyositis | Accepted[13] | ||
Diabetes mellitus type 1 | Accepted[4] | IV | |
Endometriosis | Suspected[14] | ||
Goodpasture’s syndrome | Accepted[4] | II | Anti-Basment Membrane Collagen Type IV Protein |
Graves’ disease | Accepted[4] | II | |
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) | Accepted[4] | IV | Anti-ganglioside |
Hashimoto’s disease | Accepted[4] | IV | |
Hidradenitis suppurativa | Suspected[15] | ||
Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura | Accepted[4] | II | |
Interstitial cystitis | Suspected[16] | ||
Lupus erythematosus | Accepted[4] | III | |
Morphea | Suspected[17] | ||
Multiple sclerosis | Accepted[4] | IV | Anti-Myelin Basic Protein |
Myasthenia gravis | Accepted[4] | II | |
Narcolepsy | Suspected[18] | ||
Neuromyotonia | Suspected[19] | ||
Pemphigus Vulgaris | Accepted[4] | II | Anti-Desmogein 3 |
Pernicious anaemia | Accepted[20] | II | |
Polymyositis | Accepted[13] | ||
Primary biliary cirrhosis | Accepted[21] | Anti-p62, Anti-sp100, Anti-Mitochondrial(M2) | |
Rheumatoid arthritis | Accepted[4] | III | Rheumatoid factor |
Schizophrenia | Suspected[22][23][24] | ||
Scleroderma | Suspected[17] | Anti-topoisomerase | |
Sjögren’s syndrome | Accepted[4] | ||
Temporal arteritis (also known as “giant cell arteritis”) | Accepted[4] | IV | |
Vasculitis | Accepted[5] | III | |
Vitiligo | Suspected[25][26] | ||
Wegener’s granulomatosis | Accepted[27] | Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic(cANCA) |
Autoimmune and inflammatory disease market future
In both autoimmune diseases and inflammation, the condition is triggered by aberrant reactions of the human immune system. In autoimmunity, the patient’s immune system is activated against the body’s own proteins. In inflammatory diseases, it is the overreaction of the immune system, and its subsequent downstream signaling (TNF, INF, etc), which causes problems.
A substantial proportion of the population suffers from immune diseases, which are often chronic, debilitating, and life-threatening. There are more than eighty illnesses caused by autoimmunity and about 75 percent of those affected are women. It has been estimated that autoimmune diseases are among the ten leading causes of death among women in all age groups up to 65 years.[28]
Currently, a considerable amount of research is being conducted in this therapeutic segment. According to a report from Frost & Sullivan, the total alliance payouts in the autoimmune/inflammation segment from 1997 to 2002 totaled $489.8 million, where Eli Lilly, Suntory, Procter & Gamble, Encysive, and Novartis together account for 98.6 percent of alliance payouts.[29]
The incidence of these diseases is expected to rise because of a number of factors, including increasing environmental pollution, allowing for even more opportunity in this market. Advances in biotechnology are also enriching research work in this area. Secondary to cancer and infectious diseases, autoimmune disorder is the therapeutic category with the most number of biotech drugs under development.
Treatment therapies which have failed to cure diseases such as cancer, immunological and inflammatory disorders, auto-immune diseases, and infectious diseases have driven the need for creation and development of innovative and meaningful biotherapeutics to address important unmet medical needs in these areas. Considerable research is being conducted worldwide to develop more effective drugs for asthma, allergies, inflammation and other diseases that affect the human immune system, but there are certain medical needs in these areas which demand the development of highly efficient and safe therapeutic agents for optimal use in man. To address all of these needs for therapeutics, recent advances in monoclonal antibody development may offer potential targets for effective immunotherapy.
Homeopathy Treatment for Autoimmune disease
Keywords: homeopathy, homeopathic, treatment, cure, remedy, remedies, medicine
Homeopathy treats the person as a whole. It means that homeopathic treatment focuses on the patient as a person, as well as his pathological condition. The homeopathic medicines are selected after a full individualizing examination and case-analysis, which includes the medical history of the patient, physical and mental constitution, family history, presenting symptoms, underlying pathology, possible causative factors etc. A miasmatic tendency (predisposition/susceptibility) is also often taken into account for the treatment of chronic conditions. A homeopathy doctor tries to treat more than just the presenting symptoms. The focus is usually on what caused the disease condition? Why ‘this patient’ is sick ‘this way’. The disease diagnosis is important but in homeopathy, the cause of disease is not just probed to the level of bacteria and viruses. Other factors like mental, emotional and physical stress that could predispose a person to illness are also looked for. No a days, even modern medicine also considers a large number of diseases as psychosomatic. The correct homeopathy remedy tries to correct this disease predisposition. The focus is not on curing the disease but to cure the person who is sick, to restore the health. If a disease pathology is not very advanced, homeopathy remedies do give a hope for cure but even in incurable cases, the quality of life can be greatly improved with homeopathic medicines.
The homeopathic remedies (medicines) given below indicate the therapeutic affinity but this is not a complete and definite guide to the homeopathy treatment of this condition. The symptoms listed against each homeopathic remedy may not be directly related to this disease because in homeopathy general symptoms and constitutional indications are also taken into account for selecting a remedy. To study any of the following remedies in more detail, please visit the Materia Medica section at www.Hpathy.com.
None of these medicines should be taken without professional advice and guidance.
Homeopathy Remedies for Autoimmune disease :
Ars., ars-i., calen., carc., cortiso., graph., kali-ar., lach., med., merc., nit-ac., psor., rhus-t., syph., thuj.
References
- ^ “A Gender Gap in Autoimmunity“. Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
- ^ “JAMA — Abstract: Microchimerism: An Investigative Frontier in Autoimmunity and Transplantation, March 3, 2004, Adams and Nelson 291 (9): 1127“. Retrieved on 2007-10-19.
- ^ Parham, Peter (2005). The immune system. New York: Garland Science, 344. ISBN 0-8153-4093-1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r MeSH Autoimmune+Diseases
- ^ a b c “Autoimmune Disorders: Immune Disorders: Merck Manual Home Edition“.
- ^ “Autoimmune Inner Ear Disease, Baylor College of Medicine” (1993).
- ^ “Celiac Disease“.
- ^ Meize-Grochowski R (2005). “Celiac disease: a multisystem autoimmune disorder“. Gastroenterol Nurs 28 (5): 394–402; quiz 403–4. doi:10.1097/00001610-200509000-00005. PMID 16234635, http://meta.wkhealth.com/pt/pt-core/template-journal/lwwgateway/media/landingpage.htm?issn=1042-895X&volume=28&issue=5&spage=394.
- ^ Sollid LM, Jabri B (December 2005). “Is celiac disease an autoimmune disorder?“. Curr. Opin. Immunol. 17 (6): 595–600. doi:10.1016/j.coi.2005.09.015. PMID 16214317, http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0952-7915(05)00158-5.
- ^ Hyland KV, Engman DM (2006). “Further thoughts on where we stand on the autoimmunity hypothesis of Chagas disease”. Trends Parasitol. 22 (3): 101–2; author reply 103. doi:10.1016/j.pt.2006.01.001. PMID 16446117.
- ^ Agustí A, MacNee W, Donaldson K, Cosio M. (2003). “Hypothesis: does COPD have an autoimmune component?”. Thorax 58 (10): 832–834. doi:10.1136/thorax.58.10.832. PMID 14514931.
- ^ Lee SH, Goswami S, Grudo A, et al (2007). “Antielastin autoimmunity in tobacco smoking-induced emphysema”. Nat. Med. 13 (5): 567–9. doi:10.1038/nm1583. PMID 17450149.
- ^ a b “Polymyositis and Dermatomyositis: Autoimmune Disorders of Connective Tissue: Merck Manual Home Edition“.
- ^ Gleicher N, el-Roeiy A, Confino E, Friberg J (1987). “Is endometriosis an autoimmune disease?”. Obstetrics and gynecology 70 (1): 115–22. PMID 3110710.
- ^ “Clinical Trial: Etanercept in Hidradenitis Suppurativa“. Retrieved on 2007-07-08.
- ^ Kárpáti F, Dénes L, Büttner K (1975). “[Interstitial cystitis=autoimmune cyatitis? Interstitial as a participating disease in lupus erythematosus]” (in German). Zeitschrift für Urologie und Nephrologie 68 (9): 633–9. PMID 1227191.
- ^ a b Takehara K, Sato S (2005). “Localized scleroderma is an autoimmune disorder”. Rheumatology (Oxford, England) 44 (3): 274–9. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keh487. PMID 15561734.
- ^ Carlander, B., Eliaou J.F., Billiard M. (1993). “Autoimmune hypothesis in narcolepsy.”. Neurophysiol. Clin. 23: 15. doi:10.1016/S0987-7053(05)80279-5.
- ^ Maddison P (2006). “Neuromyotonia”. Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology 117 (10): 2118–27. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.03.008. PMID 16843723.
- ^ “MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Pernicious anemia“. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.
- ^ “Primary Biliary Cirrhosis: Fatty Liver, Cirrhosis, and Related Disorders: Merck Manual Home Edition“. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.
- ^ Eaton WW, Byrne M, Ewald H, et al (2006). “Association of schizophrenia and autoimmune diseases: linkage of Danish national registers”. The American journal of psychiatry 163 (3): 521–8. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.163.3.521. PMID 16513876.
- ^ Jones AL, Mowry BJ, Pender MP, Greer JM (2005). “Immune dysregulation and self-reactivity in schizophrenia: do some cases of schizophrenia have an autoimmune basis?”. Immunol. Cell Biol. 83 (1): 9–17. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1711.2005.01305.x. PMID 15661036.
- ^ Strous RD, Shoenfeld Y (2006). “Schizophrenia, autoimmunity and immune system dysregulation: a comprehensive model updated and revisited”. J. Autoimmun. 27 (2): 71–80. doi:10.1016/j.jaut.2006.07.006. PMID 16997531.
- ^ “Questions and Answers about Vitiligo“. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
- ^ “A New Gene Linked to Vitiligo and Susceptibility to Autoimmune Disorders – Journal Watch Dermatology“. Retrieved on 2007-08-06.
- ^ Sánchez-Cano D, Callejas-Rubio JL, Ortego-Centeno N (April 2008). “Effect of rituximab on refractory Wegener granulomatosis with predominant granulomatous disease“. J Clin Rheumatol 14 (2): 92–3. doi:10.1097/RHU.0b013e31816b4487 (inactive 25 June 2008). PMID 18391678, http://meta.wkhealth.com/pt/pt-core/template-journal/lwwgateway/media/landingpage.htm?an=00124743-200804000-00008.
- ^ Noel R. Rose and Ian R. MacKay, “The Autoimmune Diseases” fourth edition
- ^ Frost & Sullivan Report, “Antibody Technology Developments” September 2005
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