Autoimmune diseases: Can’t live with ’em; can’t cure ’em… which is unfortunate when according to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, seven to 10 percent of the population in the Western Hemisphere have some form of an autoimmune disease.
Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!
Recently, research discovered that two or more autoimmune diseases, that we’re going to call AUTOs because we’re tired of typing out “autoimmune diseases”, might share 22 genome-wide signals.
We know what you’re thinking. What? No worries, we looked it up for you.
Basically, a genome has all of an organism’s genetic instruction. Without a genome, our body is up a creek without a paddle, with no clue how to mature and develop. In other words, no DNA–the basic building blocks of who we are.
Using context clues, genome-wide signals are basic instructions sent out by the genome. How many times can we say “genome” until your face starts twitching? Read these fun facts about genomes provided independently on yourgenome.org. We know you want to…
If you were to print out the 3.2 billion letters in your very own unique genome, it would:
Fill a stack of paperback books 200 ft. high
Fill 200 500-page telephone books
Take a century to recite
Extend 1,864 miles
Now, where were we?
The study included research on these 10 autoimmune diseases, all of which start during childhood: type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus (why do these words have to be so complicated?), Crohn’s disease, Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID), ulcerative colitis, ankylosing spondylitis (A.S), psoriasis, and autoimmune thyroiditis.
Based on the idea that these diseases tend to be hereditary and can “double-team attack” a patient, researchers suspect they might have something more in common with each other than their unnecessary and ridiculously complex names.
And instead of giving you all the numbers, we’re just going to tell you, they found out a lot about a lot of stuff, most of which supported their original theory.
Remember when we mentioned the 22 genome-wide signals? Well, apparently, out of those ten diseases with, collectively, 27 signals, two of them share 22 genome-wide signals, and at least three share 19. Okay, yes, we gave you numbers. Whatever. You’re welcome.
With this information in mind, scientists believe autoimmune diseases might have finally found their match. The key word we want you to remember is targeting. Drug targeting, to be specific.
By focusing in on each gene signal and its influence on cells, researchers were able pinpoint the correlation between genes, cells, and certain diseases. With this in mind, drugs can now be developed to target specific patterns in specific cells. And for existing treatments, perhaps they’ll be re-purposed?
Hope is on the horizon, friends, and you can always rely on Patient Worthy to deliver new findings, dumbed down, of course, for our convenience.
To those a bit more intelligent than we are, read the full article by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Although this may be confusing to some, pass it along anyway because it gets us one step closer to cure.
