Posted on 06/17/2010 3:54:21 AM PDT by decimon
University of Michigan and NIH scientists find a biological mechanism to explain the phenomenon
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- During pregnancy, many women experience remission of autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis and uveitis. Now, scientists have described a biological mechanism responsible for changes in the immune system that helps to explain the remission.
The expression of an enzyme known as pyruvate kinase is reduced in immune cells in pregnant women compared to non-pregnant women, according to Howard R. Petty, Ph.D., biophysicist at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center and Roberto Romero, M.D., of the National Institutes for Health.
The study, which appears online ahead of print in the August issue of the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology, also reports that expression of the enzyme is lower in pregnant women compared to those with pre-eclampsia, a condition with inflammatory components.
The study is significant because the newly discovered mechanism points to a pathway that could be targeted for treatment. “It may be possible to design drugs that mildly suppress pyruvate kinase activity as a means of replicating the immune status of normal pregnancy,” says Petty.
In addition to pre-eclampsia, he believes that rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and uveitis may eventually yield to similarly designed drugs.
(Excerpt) Read more at 2.med.umich.edu ...
Ping
Because God cares about unborn babies, but not women.
I hope that was sarcasm....at least that last part.
My first thought was that this is all the evidence in the world of how the Creator views the sacredness of the unborn.
She wasn't suppose to leave (to visit her husband) but Christmas the doctor relented and she went home for a short visit.
When she returned, she gradually became better & visibly improved...
..they discovered she was pregnant...and the baby actually sealed the area where the tuberculosis had formed and both mother and child lived!
(I'm not a doctor so I can't explain this other than the miraculous healing of God, which I believe)
There’s a drug in Europe based on similar research, but the FDA won’t allow it into the states.
Leukocyte Pyruvate Kinase Expression is Reduced in Normal Human Pregnancy but not in Pre-eclampsia
L-alanine is a pyruvate kinase inhibitor. There appears to be a bunch of other pyruvate kinase inhibitors.
I'm starting an immunology list from my microbiology list. If you don't want to be on the immunology list, let me know so I can make a separate list. The two subjects are sort of complementary, IMHO.
Ping....(Thanks, neverdem!)
I remember reading about how british POWs were
cured of some disease by contracting Malaria.
But darned if I remember which one it was.
Often wondered if that line of research was ever
followed up.
Thanks for the ping!
You’re welcome, Alamo-Girl!
Interstitial Cystitis is one that can go into remission during pregnancy.
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