Th17 lymphocytes tagged posts

People who consume sugar and other carbohydrates in excess over a long period of time have an increased risk of developing an autoimmune disease. In affected patients, the immune system attacks the body’s own tissue and the consequences are, for example, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, type 1 diabetes and chronic inflammation of the thyroid gland.

New targets for therapy

The underlying molecular mechanisms that promote autoimmune diseases are multilayered and complex...

Histologic assessment of arthritic joints using hematoxylin and eosin staining revealed a higher arthritis score on Tph1−/−mice

For the 1st time, serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) has been directly implicated in the pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Although 5-HT is predominantly known as a neurotransmitter within the CNS, new evidence points to additional important functions for serotonin in the periphery. A report in The American Journal of Pathology shows that experimentally-induced RA in serotonin-deficient mice is worse than disease reported in controls and that some effects of RA can be reduced by serotonin or its agonists (compounds that activate serotonin receptors).

“Our study highlights that 5-HT has a direct immunoregulatory role in arthritis...