Cancer and autoimmune disease sit at opposite ends of the immune spectrum. Yet treating one condition can sometimes increase the risk of the other. This article explores the shared immune pathways behind both diseases and the delicate balance clinicians must navigate when making treatment decisions.
Carolyn Serraino
The Immune Spectrum: From Autoimmunity to Cancer
How are autoimmune disease and cancer connected? Learn how immune balance, inflammation, and immune dysfunction shape disease across the immune spectrum.
Finding Purpose & Fulfillment with Autoimmune and Chronic Disease
People with autoimmune diseases or other severe chronic illnesses learn how to manage their condition but also strive to find purpose, stability, and a way forward. Pursuing these goals while living with a chronic condition involves discovering personal and professional opportunities that fit a new lifestyle but also reclaiming agency, dignity, and the sense of being helpful to others.
Exercise and Autoimmune Disease: Evidence-Based, Low-Impact Approaches
An expert-informed, evidence-based overview of low-impact exercise approaches for people with autoimmune disease.
Navigating Autoimmune Care With Limited Resources
Navigating the healthcare system can be challenging for almost everyone. Finding the right providers, getting timely appointments, and accessing appropriate treatments often feel overwhelming. For people living with autoimmune and other chronic conditions, these challenges can be even greater.
The Stages of Autoimmunity
Autoimmune disease can take years to develop, moving from silent immune misfires to full clinical symptoms. Researchers are discovering that before a diagnosis is ever made, the immune system may already be producing autoantibodies and mounting inflammatory responses against the body’s own tissues. Understanding these early “stages” of disease could facilitate prevention and earlier intervention.
To explore what happens as autoimmunity takes shape, this article features insight from Jane Buckner, MD, President of the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, and Michael Rosenblum, MD, PhD, Professor of Dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, both of whom study the immune mechanisms that drive disease onset and regulation.
Understanding Late-Onset Autoimmunity
While autoimmune disease is often associated with young or middle-aged adults, it can emerge for the first time later in life. Evidence suggests that diagnoses among older adults are increasing, raising new questions about how immune aging, hormonal changes, and environmental exposures shape disease risk.
Aging and Autoimmune Disease
What happens to the immune system during aging that could lead to an increase in autoimmune disease risk? To take a deeper look, we spoke with two experts on aging and autoimmunity: Paul Robbins, co-director of the Masonic Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism at the University of Minnesota, and Niharika Duggal, assistant professor at the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham.
PANDAS, PANS, and Autoimmunity
When infection sparks autoimmunity, the brain can change. Learn how PANDAS and PANS trigger sudden behavioral shifts in children.
Understanding Brain Fog in Autoimmune Disease
Fatigue, forgetfulness, and mental haze can all point to one culprit: immune dysfunction disrupting the brain’s clarity and focus.