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Selfeducated OP t1_j7mzpu8 wrote

It is my understanding that autoimmune diseases do not mean one is immunosuppressed; on the contrary one’s immune system is in overdrive. Of course if one then takes medication to suppress that overreaction, that can then open the door to invaders. But my question was if that ‘army’ currently attacking one’s own body by mistake sometimes defeats invading viruses. There are many different autoimmune diseases- does it follow then that many different types of ‘soldiers’ are produced that then attack specific body parts? And are they always different than what is normally produced in response to infection? I think I need a book on immunology! And I think there are many things yet to be known about the immune system!

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Arylius t1_j7n7sfn wrote

So to my understanding as someone with MS. There are B cells and T cells. Different B cells are trained to recognise certain " patterns" of certain virus proteins like the spike protein of covid. (Like soldiers trained in specific areas) It then recognises that protein and sticks to it alerting surrounding cells to release the flood gates for killer T cells the so called assassins of the immune system.

Now in auto immune disease the immune system mistaken healthy cells/ proteins for bad ones and attacks them. For something like MS that means attacking mylin coating of nerves in the brain or spine. For something like Hashimoto's its the thyroid causing the thyroid to stop producing or produce to much of the thyroid hormones.

So depending on what you have you might have you might be able to just have hormone treatment like thyroxine for Hashimoto's or for ones like MS you may need to suppress certain b cells used to target the wrong parts. Even if the treatment for example Ocrelizumab for MS only targets CD-19 and CD-20 B cells, those B cells are ultimately used to recognise a whole host of virus's there for leaving you at higher risk of infection. Most immuno-suppressants come with a whole host of scary side effects that could happen if your unlucky but like with all medication everything has side effects.

I hope this can help a little. This is also just my understanding so please take with a grain of salt. My family have a while medical textbook worth of auto immune diseases so i try to learn I'm just not always best at conveying what i mean.

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theganglyone t1_j7occp2 wrote

There's a lot that is not understood about autoimmunity. I don't think what you're suggesting occurs in real life to any significant degree but it's not a crazy notion.

If someone had an autoimmune response to a particular protein and that protein happened to be very similar in structure to a viral or cancer antigen, they might have less chance of getting that particular infection or cancer.

The issue is that the "army" you're talking about is typically highly specific. It's not a "kill anything that moves" type of army. It's more like a "kill only troops that are carrying a sign that says, 'I am target S9p4kLwe43'". Literally, the immune system kills cells that present a highly specific and recognizable target on their surface.

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i81u812 t1_j7n0dtz wrote

You do not. The first response is correct. It is also a firsthand account.

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