The 6 main types of autoimmune diseases

These diseases occur when elements of the immune system attack the body itself.

We are not aware of how many dangers surround us every day. Perhaps that is why the immune system does a job that is not appreciated until the day it fails.

In this article we will go over the main types of autoimmune diseases the main types of autoimmune diseases and how they affect us. But first, let's start with the simplest.

What is the immune system?

The immune system is a group of cells coordinated with each other that specialize in protecting the body against external agents that could cause deterioration in health, such as infections or diseases. Like everything, it is not perfect, and some of these agents manage to break through the defense and cause discomfort, infections, etc.

Problems are exacerbated when the immune system itself does not function properly. There are different failures of this system, such as no response (immunodeficiency), an exaggerated response (hypersensitivity) or attacking the body itself (autoimmune diseases). In this article I will focus on the latter group.

Immune tolerance

Autoimmune diseases have in common the loss of immune tolerance, i.e., they detect antigens (substances that are detected by the immune system and cause it to become active) in the body. Tolerance is a series of mechanisms that exist to avoid this; for example, if a lymphocyte (immune system cell) is activated by its own antigen at the moment it is generated in the producing organ (spleen and thymus), the organ itself is responsible for eliminating this cell so that it does not harm the body.

The immune system makes use of antibodiesantibodies, molecules that bind to the aforementioned antigens, to signal the rest of the immune cells to attack them. The loss of tolerance is detected by the presence in the organism of autoantibodies (antibodies that signal normal elements of the organism as antigens) and autoreactive T lymphocytes (lymphocytes that recognize their own antigens), which for some reason have not been eliminated.

Main types of autoimmune diseases

Up to 80 types of autoimmune diseases are known today, some more prevalent than others. Many of them have similar symptoms (such as inflammation), which makes the task of diagnosis more difficult. Commonly, they are categorized as complex diseases, since there is more than one factor triggering the problem, such as hormonal, genetic or environmental components.

I am not going to explain all the existing autoimmune diseases, but I will talk about the most recognized ones in order to present different cases.

1. Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (DM1)

Diabetes is one of the metabolic disorders that most affect human beings.. Already in 2015, 400 million cases had been diagnosed worldwide. There are different types of diabetes mellitus, one of them being of autoimmune origin. I am talking about type 1 diabetes mellitus, which translates into 5% of the cases that are diagnosed.

The onset of DM1 usually occurs in adolescence, and what happens is that the immune system eliminates the islet cells of the islets of the islet cells of the islet cells. eliminates the cells of the islets of Langerhans of the pancreaswhich are responsible for the production of the hormone insulin, causing the onset of diabetes due to the lack of this hormone.

2. Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a type of chronic demyelinating autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. In this case, cells of the immune system, lymphocytes and macrophages, destroy the myelin covering the nerve fibers, which plays an important role in maintaining the nerve impulse. Without it, the neuron is unable to send information correctly. information.

It is one of the most common diseases affecting the nervous system in the world (2.5 million cases diagnosed worldwide), and its symptoms are signs of failure in the transmission of information, such as fatigue, lack of balance, visual and speech disturbances and tremors.

3. Rheumatoid arthritis

This type of autoimmune disease affects the joints, which are progressively destroyed by the immune system. It has a high prevalence (between 0.5 to 1% of the world population), with a higher frequency in women.

Rheumatoid Arthritis causes pain, swelling and stiffness of the joints, caused by immune cells attacking this tissue.These are caused by the attack of immune cells on this tissue. The exact causes of the disease are unknown, although hormonal, environmental and genetic components have been found.

4. Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

SLE, or simply lupus, is one of the most prevalent autoimmune diseases. In Spain it is estimated that 9 out of every 10,000 inhabitants suffer from it. It is a systemic disease, in other words, the whole body is attacked by the immune system.. This is because autoantibodies are generated against nucleic antigens (ANA), i.e. they target elements of the cell nucleus, such as DNA or histones.

Lupus is a type of autoimmune disease that presents very characteristic symptoms, such as redness in the form of a butterfly on the face, photosensitivity or renal failure. The latter can lead to death of the patient..

The reasons that trigger the disease are not known, although there is a strong genetic influence. In addition, it has also been found to be more frequent in women, and more specifically, in certain ethnic groups. African-American and Hispanic women have a higher risk of suffering from the disease than Caucasian women.