Genetic Factors Involved in Autoimmune Disease
Certain autoimmune conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) can run in families and increase the risk of autoimmunity due to an inherited susceptibility. Certain ethnicities can also have an increased risk. For example, SLE is more common in African, Asian, Hispanic and Caribbean individuals than white Europeans. Whereas MS largely effects whites of European background (Amezcua & McCauley 2020, Lewis & Jawad 2017).
Research suggests that this is due to genetic polymorphism in multiple human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles or variants resulting in autoimmunity. A genetic polymorphism is characterised by two or more variants in a specific DNA sequence (Rosenblum et al. 2015).
However, just because someone is of a certain ethnicity, has a strong family history or a genetic polymorphism does not mean that it will be expressed or that illness is destined to present itself. The environment that we live, such as our diet and lifestyle habits, stress levels, gut health, viral and bacterial loads as well as our thought patterns play a major role in whether our genes variants are expressed and go on to cause problems or not.
Phew! Thant puts the ball in our court and gives us some level of control over our potential health outcomes. Balance and moderation, is key when it comes to our health and vitality. Respecting what we put into our bodies, what we surround ourselves with and the thoughts that we think can go a long way to ensuring a long and healthy life.
References:
Amezcua, L. McCauley, J.L. (2020). Race and Ethnicity on MS presentation and Disease Course: ACTRIMS Forum 2019. Mult Scler. 26(5): 561-567. Doi: 10.1177/1352458519887328. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7160002/pdf/nihms-1541270.pdf
Lewis, M.J. Jawad, A.S. (2017). The effect of ethnicity and genetic ancestry on the epidemiology, clinical features and outcome of systemic lupus erythematosus. Rheumatology.399. Doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kew 399.
https://sci-hub.tw/10.1093/rheumatology/kew399
Rosenblum, M.D. Remedios, K.A. Abbas, A.K. (2015). Mechanisms of human autoimmunity. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. 125(6): 2228-2233. Doi: 10.1172/JC178088.