cancer/autoimmunity axis?
Quote:
> > > As cancer seems to develop when abnormal cells evolve to the point
> > > where one cell escapes the onslaught from the immune system and so
> > > continues to reproduce freely, and whereas autoimmune disease develops
> > > because the immune system is hypersensitive to foreign proteins to the
> > > point where it begins to attack the body's own cells which display
> > > surface proteins which are similar to the exposed-to foreign protein,
> > > is there epidemiologic evidence that people with autoimmune diseases
> > > are less likely to develop cancer and vice versa?
> > People with autoimmune disease may be MORE likely to get certain cancers
> > like lymphomas.
> Thank you, Steph. Anything known about other cancers in this regard?
I guess the following shows what thoughts are these days on this:
Crit Rev Immunol 2000;20(6):433-50
Overwijk WW, Restifo NP.
Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of
Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-1502, USA.
It is increasingly clear that immunity to "self"-antigens may result
in tumor destruction in mouse and man. But which antigens should be
targeted with therapeutic cancer vaccines? In the case of melanoma,
recognition of melanocyte differentiation antigens (MDA) can be
associated with autoimmune depigmentation (vitiligo). We propose that
intersection of protein transport to melanosomes and endosomes allows
for the loading of MDA-derived peptides on MHC class II molecules,
resulting in the activation of MDA-specific CD4+ "helper" T cells that
aid the induction of melanoma-specific CD8+ T cells. Thus, the
immunogenicity of MDA may be a consequence of their unique cell
biology. Studies of MDA-based vaccines can provide new insight into
the development of more effective cancer vaccines.
