pathology: autoimmune diseases

yogabook / pathologie / autoimmune diseases

autoimmune diseases

Definition of

all diseases in which the patient’s own immune system has triggered a specific adaptive immune response against the body’s own antigens (molecules that react to antibodies and generate antibodies). Normally, the result of an adaptive immune response against something foreign is the removal of the antigen from the body by components of the immune system. Virus-infected cells, for example, are destroyed by T cells, while dissolved antigens are eaten by macrophages. If, on the other hand, a long-lasting immune response develops against autoantigens because the weapons of the immune system are unable to eliminate the antigen, chronic inflammatory tissue damage occurs. The underlying defense mechanisms are essentially the same as in the physiological immune response. The exact triggers are unknown, genetic predisposition is considered certain. Furthermore, autoimmune diseases increasingly occur as a result of severe infections. We see allergies, autoimmunity and transplant rejection as adaptive reactions to non-infectious antigens. It is largely unclear how these undesirable immune responses can be driven out of the immune system without impairing the immunity itself, which protects against infections. The most important autoimmune diseases known today:

  1. Alopecia areata (circular hair loss, prevalence in Germany 1.4 million)
  2. Anemia, pernicious (autoimmune gastritis-related deficiency of intrinsic factor and thus vitamin B12)
  3. Antiphospholipid syndrome (Hughes syndrome (APS), prevalence 2-5%, secondary to SLE; symptoms: tendency to thrombosis(antithrombin), miscarriages and intrauterine fetal death)
  4. Arteriitis temporalis, arteriitis cranialis (giant cell arteritis, Horton’s disease: drilling, stabbing headache, visual disturbances, risk of blindness)
  5. Atherosclerosis
  6. Autoimmune insufficiency, polyendocrine (Schmidt syndrome: mainly women, usually only in adulthood, usually Hashimoto’s thyroiditis plus Addison’s disease and possibly others such as diabetes mellitus, alopecia areata, vitiligo, pernicious anemia, myasthenia gravis)
  7. Churg-Strauss syndrome (allergic granulomatous angiitis, eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA): )Panarteritis, mainly affects small and medium-sized arteries of the lungs and other organs, with eosinophilic granulocytes infiltrating from there into the tissues. Very rare, 1-3 / 1,000,000, diagnosed on average at 48 years of age. Eosinophilic organ inflammation, e.g. myocarditis and organ infarctions. Usually progresses in 3 phases )
  8. Ulcerative colitis (prevalence in the West 2/1000)
  9. CREST syndrome (limited systemic scleroderma, lSSc, Thibierge-Weissenbach syndrome: collagenosis with calcinosis cutis, i.e. calcification of the skin, Raynaud’s syndrome, esophageal dysfunction, sclerodactyly, i.e. thin, pale, hardened and hairless fingers and telangiectasia, chronic dilation of superficial skin vessels; later often also pulmonary hypertension)
  10. Dermatomyositis (DM, also known as Lila’s disease, Wagner-Unverricht syndrome: collagenosis with idiopathic myopathy or myositis; possibly related to polymyositis (PM); often tumor-associated and paraneoplastic; temporal relationship extremely variable, in both directions of the time axis; muscle weakness, purple erythema, papules, telangiectasia, vasculitis, organ involvement)
  11. Fibromyalgia
  12. Gastritis, chronic autoimmune
  13. Goodpasture syndrome (GN + alveolitis, hemoptysis, siderosis (iron deposits), rapidly progressive, untreated infaust)
  14. Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS, acute idiopathic polyradiculoneuritis, polyradiculitis, low lethality, 20% retained damage)
  15. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis ((chronic) lymphocytic thyroiditis, ord thyroiditis; goiter, as ord form also atrophy; mostly hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), sometimes also hyperthyroidism; often in a polyendocrine context)
  16. Hepatitis, autoimmune (bacterial or viral trigger)
  17. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (Still’s disease; infection-induced polygenic disease)
  18. Cold agglutinin disease (anemia, autoimmune hemolytic (AIHA) of the cold type; trigger: lymphomas or infections; slight drop in blood temperature leads to agglutination (erythrocyte cross-linking) and thus to hemolysis)
  19. Cryoglobulinemia, essential (cold-induced formation of immune complexes of IgM and IgG, which lead to vasculitis; more common in hepatitis C; purpura, arthralgia, GN, neuropathy, liver involvement)
  20. Lichen sclerosus (LS; non-infectious chronic inflammatory dermatosis; predominantly genital localization; white coloration and parchment-like keratinization)
  21. Lyme arthritis (mono- or oligoarthritis with chronic inflammatory joint effusions, often involving the knee, .
  22. Mixed collagenosis (Sharp syndrome; Raynaud’s syndrome, scleroderma-like skin changes, symptoms of SLE, polymyositis or RA, possibly heart, kidney, CNS involvement)
  23. Addison’s disease (autoimmune adrenal cortical atrophy with cortisol and aldosterone deficiency)
  24. Graves‘ disease (Graves‘ disease; often with goiter, hyperthyroidism; ophthalmopathy: exophthalmos, eyelid retraction)
  25. Ankylosing spondylitis
  26. Behçet’s disease (relapsing rheumatoid disease; mainly Turkish or Southeast Asian men, genetic + infectious trigger; oral and genital aphthae, iritis, pus accumulations in the anterior chamber of the eye, other phthalmologic symptoms: uveitis, conjunctivitis, keratitis, optic neuritis; erythema, arthralgia, epididymitis, meningoencephalitis)
  27. Crohn’s disease
  28. Wegener’s disease (granulomatous polyangiitis, formerly Wegener’s granulomatosis; necrotizing inflammation of the vessels with granuloma formation in the upper and lower airways; frequently GN)
  29. Werlhof’s disease (chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), usually mild course with petechiae, hematomas, but severe blood loss is also possible)
  30. Multiple sclerosis
  31. Myasthenia gravis (MG, myasthenia gravis pseudoparalytica; disorder of the motor end plate of the striated muscles, exercise-induced muscle weakness)
  32. Pemphigus vulgaris (blistering autoimmune dermatosis)
  33. Polymyalgia rheumatica (giant cell arteritis in the aortic arch and in proximal limb arteries with pain mainly in the shoulder and pelvic girdle muscles)
  34. Polymyositis (collagenosis, systemic inflammatory disease of the skeletal muscles with perivascular lymphocytic infiltrations)
  35. Polyneuropathy (chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, CIDP)
  36. Psoriasis
  37. Reiter’s syndrome (Reiter’s disease)
  38. Rheumatic fever (post-streptococcal Lancefield group A immunization; endocarditis, pericarditis, myocarditis, polyarthritis, chorea minor)
  39. Rheumatoid arthritis
  40. Sarcoidosis
  41. Sjögren’s syndrome (collagenosis, salivary glands and lacrimal glands, dry mouth, affecting internal organs)
  42. Scleroderma (systemic sclerosis; collagenosis, hardening of the connective tissue of the skin or membranes of internal organs)
  43. Stiff man syndrome (SMS, Moersch-Woltmann syndrome; neurological increase in muscle tone)
  44. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, relapsing rheumatoid collagenosis; butterfly lichen on the face, infestation of internal organs)
  45. Takayasu arteritis (giant cell arteritis-like granulomatous inflammation of the aorta and its main branches; fever, night sweats, weight loss and aching limbs; circulatory disorders)
  46. Type I diabetes mellitus
  47. Vitiligo (Leucopathia acquisita, white spot disease)
  48. Celiac disease

Cause

  1. unknown, inadequate reactions of the immune system of unclear cause

Predisposing

  1. genetic

Symptoms

depending on the illness