5/27 What causes autoimmune conditions?

Today we’re going to talk about autoimmune conditions and what causes autoimmune conditions? 

An autoimmune condition is a situation where your body has created immune cells that are attacking itself.  This creates inflammation, and the inflammation creates a lot of collateral damage. It’s all of the free radicals that end up actually destroying the tissue.  The immune cells that are attacking itself are called autoantibodies. You can have these autoantibodies to pretty much any tissue in the body.  What autoimmune conditions boil down to is one cell called the Th17 cell becoming overactive. Excessive amounts of this cell are responsible for autoimmune conditions.  In your immune system, you have a lot of different T cells. The T stands for thymus. Typically T helper cells do things like recruiting help to fight infection and generating weaponry. It’s the main controller in the battle against infections.  One of the functions of these cells is to maintain the intestinal barrier. This is the barrier that helps keep out viruses and pathogens. If there’s a break in the wall and harmful bacteria get in, they can invade the inside of the body, causing an immune attack. Now, your body is going to start creating antibodies against these cells. If those cells are pathogens, this is a good thing. But, what if those cells are your own cells? This, of course, wouldn’t be good.  Another function of Th17 cells is making sure that the body doesn’t destroy its own tissue. This cell could help prevent autoimmune conditions.  The Th17 cells also work with the T regulatory cells, which have an even greater function of preventing autoimmune diseases. It may also help suppress autoimmune diseases and hyperinflammatory conditions. T regulatory cells also calm down infections.  When the Th17 cell doesn’t work as it should, you’re at risk for getting a movement of bacteria across the intestinal barrier. This could lead to chronic infection and chronic inflammation.  It’s unclear how these cells become overactivated. But, what is known is that there are usually several things involved, such as: 1. Infection 2. Stress 3. Malnourishment  Vitamin D can potentially help bring down this overreaction of the Th17 cell.

Dr. Eric Berg DC