Autoimmune

Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system, which is tasked with protecting the body from pathogens, mistakenly recognizes some part of the body as foreign and mounts an immune response against it. This condition results in the immune system attacking and damaging its own tissues, as in the case of vitiligo where there is destruction of skin pigment cells, leading to patches of lost pigmentation 1.

2 discusses immunotherapy and checkpoint inhibitors, drugs that manipulate the immune response in the context of cancer treatment. These drugs can take the brakes off the immune system, allowing it to attack cancer cells more effectively, but this action can also lead to autoimmune reactions due to the unleashing of the immune system.

The concept of thymic selection is key to understanding how the body learns not to attack itself. During infancy, the thymus educates T cells on what is self, a process by which T cells that react against the body's own tissues are eliminated. This mechanism minimizes autoimmune reactions, but it is not perfect, and autoimmunity can still occur 3.

These clips from the Huberman Lab and The Peter Attia Drive provide insights into the complexity of the immune system, the delicate balance between immune protection and autoimmunity, and the implications for disease treatment and prevention.