IUBio

Autoimmune? Maybe not

mark mark.haynes at mail.tju.edu
Fri Mar 12 13:43:42 EST 1999


Ralph L. Samson wrote:
> 
> Some of the latest information about macrophages carrying unkilled bacteria
> to other parts of the body gives one pause.  Is is possible that some
> problem that was thought to be caused by antibodies gone astray might
> actually be caused by bacteria carried from elsewhere?  Dr. Mark Levine's
> description of Vitamin C as an immune-cell antidote with regards to
> neutrophils might equally apply to macrophages.  Is is possible that
> an adequate supply of Vitamin C would prevent Type 1 diabetes, which has
> been thought to be caused by erroneous attact of antibodies, but might
> be from unkilled bacteria in macrophages?
> Regards, Ralph L. Samson
> 


I think the evidence is pretty clear that bacteria can be found in places 
that were not thought to be areas of infection before.  Atherosclerotic 
plaques is the one that comes to mind for me. OTOH, it is also well 
established that macrophage/dendritic's are involved in the attack on the 
islets.  Il-1 has been shown to be toxic to islet beta cells as well.  I 
kinda doubt that vitamin c would stop these cells from acting. I know of no 
evidence that bacteria are found in pancreases of these patients--viruses 
maybe are involved in the initiation phase of this and some other "autoimmune 
diseases.
markH



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