Monday, September 12, 2005
(Auto)Immunity
Two immunologic posts in one day, you'd think I hadn't been conflicted out of taking the class!
New research suggests that our immune systems are evolved to not work as swiftly as they might, in order to reduce autoimmune diseases. It's a fascinating idea, and such an elegant one too; perhaps all that 'balance' crap the New Agers talk about turns out to be a bit useful. The point, aside from a better understanding of how the system works, is that perhaps the controls can be tweaked, to reduce autoimmune disease symptoms and/or to improve immune responses to diseases. A few of my close relatives and friends have Addison's, and a professor's daughter has lupus, so I'm fairly tuned to autoimmune disease research.
New research suggests that our immune systems are evolved to not work as swiftly as they might, in order to reduce autoimmune diseases. It's a fascinating idea, and such an elegant one too; perhaps all that 'balance' crap the New Agers talk about turns out to be a bit useful. The point, aside from a better understanding of how the system works, is that perhaps the controls can be tweaked, to reduce autoimmune disease symptoms and/or to improve immune responses to diseases. A few of my close relatives and friends have Addison's, and a professor's daughter has lupus, so I'm fairly tuned to autoimmune disease research.
