[HN Gopher] Can autoimmune diseases be cured? Scientists see hop...
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Can autoimmune diseases be cured? Scientists see hope at last
Author : gumby
Score : 103 points
Date : 2024-01-24 12:16 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nature.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nature.com)
| jbm wrote:
| My first thought was whether this could help with allergies; this
| seems to be a much, much bigger group of people. Sadly it didn't
| seem to come up in the article.
|
| Oh and yay University of Calgary!
| kelnos wrote:
| It seems like one of the approaches they are looking into is
| very similar to an existing treatment for allergies, at least
| on the surface:
|
| > _In some cases, that means administering the very antigens
| that the rogue cells are trained to attack, a strategy that can
| deprogram the cells and dampen the autoimmune response._
|
| I go to my allergist every month to get three shots under my
| skin, which are cocktails of concentrated versions of the
| various things I'm allergic to. It's been almost 3.5 years
| since I started, and while my allergies are certainly better
| than they used to be, they're far from "cured". I don't really
| expect further improvement; I'm supposed to do another year and
| a half in order to increase the chances of it "sticking" for
| longer. But even then, some patients report their allergies
| come back in full force in anywhere between 5 and 20 years.
|
| But they are also looking into:
|
| > _Other researchers are trying to selectively wipe out the
| problematic cells, or to introduce suppressive immune cells
| that have been engineered to target them._
|
| ... which I personally think is much more promising, if
| possibly much more difficult to accomplish.
| mieubrisse wrote:
| Fascinating and informative article. I'm wrestling with an
| unknown something that looks like it might be autoimmune, and
| this reads like the difference between "you're destined to a
| lifetime of palliative treatments" vs "there might be a something
| you can do to actually cure yourself". And I don't even have
| anything confirmed; I can't imagine what folks who actually have
| a confirmed autoimmune disorder must be feeling.
| josefresco wrote:
| I'm 6ish years into my RA diagnosis. The first 2 years were
| very rough both physically but more so mentally. I manage the
| mental aspect better now, and my symptoms have stabilized which
| certainly helps the former. However it's easy to dip into
| despair when you know what the long term prospects are for life
| quality and expectancy.
| parrellel wrote:
| Type 1 and RA in the family here and they are life re-defining
| conditions. Everyone of us is watching this research like a hawk.
| josefresco wrote:
| Same here, I have RA, my dad had RA (remission now) and I have
| two sisters with still mysterious auto-immune disorders. This
| news and all news on treatments that aren't _blunt immune
| response hammers_ gives us hope.
|
| Tip for those watching prescription TC commercials: When they
| say "you may be more prone to infection" take it very, very
| seriously.
| hirvi74 wrote:
| > When they say "you may be more prone to infection" take it
| very, very seriously.
|
| I suppose it depends on the disease. I have read rather
| conflicting research about whether certain DMARDs/Biologics
| actually increase cancer rates, infections, etc..
|
| I'm about the furthest thing from a expert one can be in
| regards to this topic, but I will say that I have always
| purposely tried to stay away from those medications "just in
| case." I am also in a fortunate enough situation that I am
| not required to go on such medications despite having the
| option in order to live a mostly normal life.
|
| I'm not some "big pharma bad" person, but something about
| those medications have never sat well with me. I suppose for
| many, the risk of the cure outweighs the risk of the disease.
| But in regards to something as integral as the human immune
| system, I real do not want to "fuck around & find out" as
| people say these days. Until there is a legitimate cure or
| safer medicines, I suppose I am (dis)content with the level
| of disease activity I currently have.
| parrellel wrote:
| This is great if your particular immune disorder doesn't
| kill your ability to walk or eat or type, but the increased
| cancer risk definitely seems worth not having to comparison
| shop foot-pedal mice.
|
| I've read that the increased cancer risk isn't so much an
| increase in cancer rate as a reduction in bodily policing
| of early cancers?
| voisin wrote:
| What's the best way to track research, RSS-style, rather than
| manually doing searches and hoping you see follow ups?
| fabian2k wrote:
| Pubmed is the database you'd typically want to look at for
| medical and natural sciences. You can configure email alerts
| for specific keywords there, though it's been ages that I've
| done that.
| wcarss wrote:
| This is the specific kind of thing I want to use LLMs for. I
| want to describe "what I'm looking for" to an LLM and have it
| go out each week and digest the most recent 100 papers, and
| occasionally pop up to tell me when there's something
| potentially relevant to read.
| kelnos wrote:
| Absolute layperson here, but:
|
| > _In some cases, that means administering the very antigens that
| the rogue cells are trained to attack, a strategy that can
| deprogram the cells and dampen the autoimmune response._
|
| This sounds exactly like the strategy my allergy doc uses to
| suppress my allergies. Regularly expose my immune system to
| concentrated amounts of the allergens in order to deprogram the
| immune system's erroneous response. If it really is similar and
| analogous, I'm not really holding out much hope for this. Results
| from allergy shots seem to be all over the map. Yes, definitely
| positive results on average, that make it worth it for many
| people (myself included), but if it is indeed similar, I don't
| think this can be a general solution to these autoimmune
| diseases, that will work for everyone, or even most people.
|
| (Notably, the practice I go to is an "Immunology & Allergy"
| practice.)
|
| > _Other researchers are trying to selectively wipe out the
| problematic cells, or to introduce suppressive immune cells that
| have been engineered to target them._
|
| This seems much more promising? Probably much more difficult,
| though, which I think makes the "deprogramming" method above
| worthwhile to look into, since it could potentially work well
| enough, for enough people, to make it worth the effort.
|
| Again, complete layperson here. If the immune system's response
| when it comes to allergies is nothing like the mechanisms in play
| when we're talking about autoimmune disorders, then... well,
| never mind, I guess.
| nullserver wrote:
| Sjogrens. Which is similar to Lupus.
|
| Diet changes can make a huge difference. Earlier the better.
|
| On many support forums I see a pattern of people using the
| various meds with mixed results. Then people starting to
| experiment with which foods they seem to do better with. Then
| discovering the auto immune protocol diet.
|
| A lot of people don't wanna go to the effort, so won't try it and
| complain about it.
|
| People that try it and actually follow it often have amazing
| results, and all their symptoms calm down.
|
| A lot of people just cannot give up the pizza and chips though.
| hirvi74 wrote:
| My issue with the dietary suggestions is that I have yet to see
| enough conclusive evidence that any of them work (especially
| long-term). I feel like much of the information is just a
| Survivorship Bias. Who blogs about the countless diets that
| failed to help them?
|
| My understanding is that even for those who receive positive
| results, such results are highly anecdotal and individually
| specific.
|
| One person goes vegan and is cured. Another goes on a strictly
| carnivore diet and is cured. Same can be said for Mediterranean
| Diet, Plant-based, keto, etc.. So, which one should be
| recommended? How many should one try before they give up? How
| long should they try before they give up?
|
| "Nightshades cause inflammation." How? Why? At what dosage --
| one slick of bell pepper can't be equal to five pounds of
| tomatoes, right? Why is this an issue only in some people?
|
| I am not trying to dismiss the premise because there could be
| validity to dietary factors impacting disease prognosis, but
| part of me also wants to believe that if the treatments were as
| simple as dietary interventions, then a majority of people with
| AI diseases would be cured already.
|
| I refuse to accept the conspiracy that diets hold the hidden
| cure for a majority of AI diseases, and that Big Pharma and
| doctors wouldn't profit as much if people made dietary
| interventions, so that's why they keep people sick with AI
| diseases by only treating the symptoms. Accepting such would be
| ignoring that there is also an entire "Big Diet" industry that
| stands to make a profit off the same desperate people.
|
| All I am gonna say is that, Dr. Jonas Salk invented the first
| effective Polio vaccine, did not patent his findings, an thus
| released it for free so the world could be a better place. Dr.
| John Pagano apparently discovered a diet that helps treat/cure
| AI diseases. You can learn more about it for $64.22 on Amazon.
| ahstilde wrote:
| Technically, allergies are an autoimmune disease, and they're
| certainly effectively curable through a change in the immune
| response.
|
| We're increasing the availability of allergy immunotherapy with
| our company, Wyndly.
|
| https://www.wyndly.com/pages/immunotherapy
|
| I'd love to see this for more conditions.
| anonymouskimmer wrote:
| Is it medically possible to make a combination sublingual drop
| for a variety of common allergies without side-effects? $250
| for a test and then whatever payments to have a doctor
| prescribe it is out of reach for many. A single over-the-
| counter for the more common allergies, or even regional over-
| the-counters for regional allergens, would be reach a lot more
| people.
|
| For the serious allergic reactions I can see why a personalized
| plan would be required. But for the more mild reactions this
| seems hypothetically possible.
|
| Aside: If wondered for a bit whether something like honey
| blends of many regional honeys for young children older than 6
| months would eliminate most of the seasonal pollen allergies
| that people develop from moving to other parts of the
| country/world.
|
| Edit to add: I believe you're wrong about the "technically"
| part. Allergies aren't attacking the body (therefore not
| "auto"), merely causing symptoms through the general immune
| response against the allergen. This is particularly aggravating
| to an individual because the immune response is long lasting,
| as it's impossible for the immune system to eliminate the
| foreign antigen when said antigen is prevalent in the
| environment.
| Metacelsus wrote:
| >Technically, allergies are an autoimmune disease
|
| No, autoimmune means an immune reaction against a human protein
| (which allergens are not).
| hirvi74 wrote:
| I am not trying to be a downer, and I am a person who would
| greatly benefit from this type of cure having one autoimmune
| disorder myself.
|
| However, I'll just say that I will believe it when I see it.
| Until this is lumped in with the other innovations that a mere
| carrots on a stick like a cure for cancer, material that can
| replace plastic without compromise, flying cars, ability to
| regrow enamel/reverse dental caries, etc..
| notamy wrote:
| This would be lovely if it pans out. I've been grappling with a
| neurological issue for a while now that might be autoimmune
| (testing inconclusive so far); fortunately the neurological
| symptoms are reversible, but having an autoimmune variant of this
| issue would be life-altering with how treatment progresses.
| eaurouge wrote:
| > But what's most surprising is that they have all stayed in
| remission, even after they began producing new B cells. It's as
| if wiping out the B cells performed a reset on the immune system.
|
| Apparently repeated cycles of prolonged fasts can also trigger
| apoptosis and reset the immune system.
|
| https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7474734/
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