Posted by Adam Hersperger
on August 2, 2009, 1:30 pm, in reply to "Re: Underground Gym "
68.38.215.236
"This is, of course, only my uneducated guess, but I suspect that when the details of the biological/chemical mechanisms are completely understood, it will be shown that it is impossible for a person’s immune system to attack its own normal body tissue."
Rich, can you please clarify what you meant by this? Are you referring to lupus specifically or speaking more generally?
If you are speaking in general, then I think the body of research literature over the last 50+ years would suggest otherwise. Rheumatoid arthritis, Crohns disease, multiple sclerosis (just to name a few) are a direct result of the immune system attacking its own tissue. Sometimes a bacterial infection can be a triggering event that results in the manifestation of an autoimmune disease. However, the bacterial infection does not itself causes the disease in these cases.
Adam
PS: I am an Immunology PhD student at UPenn. I can go into more detail if you want on this topic. Let me know if you have any questions.
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