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New research finds pathogenic connection between autoimmune disorders and cancer

Firestormm

Senior Member
Messages
5,055
Location
Cornwall England
New research finds pathogenic connection between autoimmune disorders and cancer

Autoimmune disorders may share certain pathogenic mechanisms with cancer, according to a new report by George Washington University (GW) researcher Linda Kusner, Ph.D., published in PLOS ONE on July 22.

This paradigm shifting work shows that the very same inhibitors of apoptosis, or cell destruction, in tumors are also expressed in cells that produce autoimmune diseases. Henry Kaminski, M.D., chair of the Department of Neurology at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), as well as colleagues from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, collaborated with Kusner's laboratory on this research. Together they discovered that survivin, an inhibitor of apoptosis, is also expressed in the white blood cells, called lymphocytes, of patients with the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis, but not in normal individuals. This was also the case in animal models of myasthenia gravis. Myasthenia gravis is a severe muscle disease that can lead to such weakness that patients must be placed on breathing machines.


"We found that humans with myasthenia gravis also express survivin in autoreactive lymphocytes," said Kusner, assistant research professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at SMHS. "We found these cells to be part of the dysfunction underlying the autoimmune disease."


Read more: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-07-pathogenic-autoimmune-disorders-cancer.html

"This study opens a new therapeutic approach for myasthenia gravis, as well as other autoimmune disorders," said Kaminski. "Conventional therapies may improve the disease, but have numerous complications. This discovery may lead to a viable treatment option for the millions of American suffering from these disorders."
 

melihtas

Senior Member
Messages
137
Location
Istanbul Turkey
Wow this looks very promising.

Link to full text of the study: Survivin as a Potential Mediator to Support Autoreactive Cell Survival in Myasthenia Gravis: A Human and Animal Model Study

Specific survivin inhibitors have been synthesized and at least one of them (YM155) is currently in clinical trials as a cancer therapeutic. Such inhibitors could potentially be useful if survivin levels remain high following clinical immunosuppression; however, the advantage of anti-survivin vaccine therapy rests with its potential to create an extended period of immunity through production of a memory T-cell response, as opposed to life-long medical therapy.