April 8, 2024 Today, a case report titled “The Kaleidoscope of Polyautoimmunity: An Odyssey of Diagnostic Dilemmas” was published, and delves into the diagnostic challenges encountered in a patient presenting with overlapping symptoms indicative of multiple autoimmune diseases. The patient, a 63-year-old male with a history of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on methotrexate treatment, exhibited symptoms suggestive of various connective tissue diseases (CTDs) such as mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and overlap syndrome (OS), along with polyautoimmunit ..read more

March 28, 2024 The immune system has a “brake system” through checkpoints (like PD-1) that prevent attacks on healthy cells by regulating immune responses. While the study of these interactions has been extensively examined, a research team has made an unexpected discovery about how a key immune checkpoint works. They discuss this and how the understanding potentially has important implications for immune activity-altering therapies in their recent publication, Transmembrane domain–driven PD-1 dimers mediate T cell inhibition. PD-1 interacts with PD-L1 and PD-L2 proteins, inhibiting T-ce ..read more

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March 18, 2024 Roughly half of Long Covid patients meet the diagnostic criteria for myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) according to a review article published recently in Trends in Molecular Medicine, called “Unravelling shared mechanisms: insights from recent ME/CFS research to illuminate long COVID pathologies”. Despite their similar symptoms and likely causes, it’s not clear if they also share the same underlying molecular issues. Both ME/CFS and Long Covid show consistent changes in how the body produces energy and in the makeup of gut bacteria, with a decrease in ..read more

March 8, 2024 The article “Sex-specific differences in physiological parameters related to SARS-CoV-2 infections among a national cohort (COVI-GAPP study)” explores sex-based variations in physiological responses to COVID-19 using wearable technology. The study involved 1163 participants and focused on breathing rate, heart rate, heart rate variability, and wrist skin temperature. Males showed larger increases in skin temperature, breathing rate, and heart rate, along with larger decreases in heart rate variability during infection. However, the COVID-19 detection algorithm’s performance was c ..read more

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March 5, 2024 An article published today called the Long-Term Autoimmune Inflammatory Rheumatic Outcomes of COVID-19, reports that rates of new-onset autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases (AIRD), like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, increased significantly post-COVID-19 in South Korea and Japan. Data from both countries revealed a 25% increase in Korea and a 79% increase in Japan among COVID-19 patients compared to uninfected controls. However, vaccination reduced the risk of AIRD after breakthrough infections, except in severe cases. AIRD was considered a long-term COVID-19 complication ..read more

March 4, 2024 The North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS) registry analyses presented at the 2024 Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum indicated a relatively low risk of long COVID in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Only 1.5% of MS patients met post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC – also known as Long Covid) criteria. However, 15.7% of MS patients with COVID-19 reported persistent symptoms after six months, comparable to 17.2% of those without COVID-19 or other infections. Dr. Robert Fox highlighted challenges in di ..read more

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The post Dillon’s Story: My 12-Year Journey to a Lyme Disease Diagnosis appeared first on Global Autoimmune Institute ..read more