For the most part, like other researchers, people working on autoimmune diseases and other immune issues do their work behind the scenes without much fanfare. The public doesn't hear much about them or what they do. Yet now and then, when some experiment does emerge with a positive result, it sometimes bursts onto the scene in spectacular fashion. Those studying the immune system and disorders connected to it have created some surprising breakthroughs in recent years.
Take the example of Type 1 diabetes, which is actually one of the autoimmune diseases and doesn't result from a dysfunction of the pancreas, as does the Type 2 version. With this disorder, the T cells of the body's immune system attack the beta cells that are supposed to monitor blood glucose and signal the release of insulin. To prevent those T cells from doing that, sometimes the only answer is suppression of the immune system, but that can force a no-win choice between having diabetes and having a strong immune system.
Some researchers studying the immune system and disorders related to this diabetes problem at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in California have created a covering for the beta cells that may protect them from the body's immune system and allow them to function.
Other researchers have designed innovative ways of studying the compromised immune system of humans by creating a laboratory replica of the human system in mice, so people won't be used as guinea pigs and proper ethical issues can be addressed. The Jackson Laboratory in Maine did this in 2005, hoping to learn how stem cell transplantation might be used to cure blood cancers and repair the human immune system and disorders associated with it.
Steady research is being done on trying to find a vaccine against HIV, but in an interesting backward twist, researchers in the immune system and disorders connected with it have used the virus itself to create something good in other patients. Since it's so good at delivering its contents with pervasive force, the doctors disabled its ability to cause AIDS, and used it instead to deliver healthy genes to help stop a brain disease. These and other researchers of human disease related to the immune system deserve medals, or at least the thanks of a grateful public for the amazing medical breakthroughs they have achieved over the years.
Take the example of Type 1 diabetes, which is actually one of the autoimmune diseases and doesn't result from a dysfunction of the pancreas, as does the Type 2 version. With this disorder, the T cells of the body's immune system attack the beta cells that are supposed to monitor blood glucose and signal the release of insulin. To prevent those T cells from doing that, sometimes the only answer is suppression of the immune system, but that can force a no-win choice between having diabetes and having a strong immune system.
Some researchers studying the immune system and disorders related to this diabetes problem at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in California have created a covering for the beta cells that may protect them from the body's immune system and allow them to function.
Other researchers have designed innovative ways of studying the compromised immune system of humans by creating a laboratory replica of the human system in mice, so people won't be used as guinea pigs and proper ethical issues can be addressed. The Jackson Laboratory in Maine did this in 2005, hoping to learn how stem cell transplantation might be used to cure blood cancers and repair the human immune system and disorders associated with it.
Steady research is being done on trying to find a vaccine against HIV, but in an interesting backward twist, researchers in the immune system and disorders connected with it have used the virus itself to create something good in other patients. Since it's so good at delivering its contents with pervasive force, the doctors disabled its ability to cause AIDS, and used it instead to deliver healthy genes to help stop a brain disease. These and other researchers of human disease related to the immune system deserve medals, or at least the thanks of a grateful public for the amazing medical breakthroughs they have achieved over the years.
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Sean writes for a number of publications and websites on health and wellness issues. If you're concerned about your health, you might be interested in his site on the advantages of a portable FIR sauna. Many people consider that a sauna has many benefits for your health.
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