About Autoimmune Disease

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.

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.

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease characterized by a loss of pigment (color) in the skin, resulting in lighter spots or patches that may gradually expand. While it commonly affects a person’s face, hands, arms, feet, and legs, vitiligo patches can also appear anywhere else in the body.   How Does Vitiligo Develop? Cameron Coury, MD, a […]

How DNA modifications impact gene expression, immune regulation, and future therapies.