Immune System and Disease Essay

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Role of Autoimmunity in Three Endocrine Disorders

A number of endocrine illnesses are immune mediated and can now be reliably predicted. Autoimmune disorders can occur in a person and people related to them. Families with history of autoimmunity, and has had antibody screening done, becomes aware of those that carry such risk. Knowing the prevalence of such disorders and the diseases associated with them can help in early diagnosis and prevent them from becoming more serious. Autoimmunity affects several glands in the body. Studies reveal that alleles are very important in the determination of tissue-specific targeting (Aaron W. Michels & George S. Eisenbarth, 2010).

The Process of Autoimmunity

Autoimmunity is necessary for the body to maintain its health by countering effects of external virulent and organic attacks. It involves regulatory networks that provide the body with immunity against infection. It has not yet been determined why instances arise where autoimmunity processes sometimes become causal in destroying some healthy tissues. The autoimmune conditions identified so far range from systemic to tissue specific disorders. Such conditions can start at any stage of life -- childhood to adulthood. The function of the immune system is protecting an individual from infections. With the onset of an autoimmune disease, the immune system launches an ill-informed attack on healthy cells. Most of the conditions are genetic. Demographics like women -- particularly Hispanic-America, African-America and Native-American women -- have a higher risk of developing some autoimmune disorders. The disorders develop from a relatively overactive response of the immune system to body and tissues. Instead of attacking pathogens, the body attacks itself having confused cells of given body part for pathogens. The attack can be at only particular organs as is the case with autoimmune thyroiditis, or at a particular tissue in several places as is the case with Good Pasture's disease, which can affect both the kidney's and the lung's basement membrane (Sean Zeelie, 2012).

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1. Autoimmunity in Endocrine System

The most common autoimmune condition is Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT). About 10% of the general population is affected by HT. It results in a gradual decline of thyroid function, development of goiter, and the infiltration of T-cell on histology. The condition is more prevalent among women than it is in men. Women are 7 times more likely to develop the condition than men. There is no significant association between HT and HLA even though its occurrence is most likely in genetically susceptible populations. CTLA-4 and thyroglobulin mutations are associated with the condition. T-cells play a very important function in disease pathogenesis as it reacts with thyroid antigens and secretes inflammatory cytokines. Autoantibodies build up in HT to form TSHR, thyroglobin and peroxidase. The belief is that the auto-antibodies result from damage caused thyroid follicular cells brought about by T. cells. Thyroid peroxidase is the main autoantigen. There is a close association between disease activity and autoantibodies to TPO (Aaron W. Michels & George S. Eisenbarth, 2010).

Evidence exists showing the presence of genetic components in most cases of autoimmune endocrine diseases. Studies of familial inheritance of thyroiditis and type 1 diabetes have yielded some of the best pieces of evidence. The concordance rate among siblings is about 3% to 4% while the rate among monogenic twins is about 50%. As compared to the risk of the general population, which is about 0.3%, the two former groups suffer a significantly higher risk. This risk, as data collected points out, is due to genetics as well….....

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