Strategies for Early Identification of Atherosclerosis in Systemic Autoimmune Disease

Is atherosclerosis an autoimmune disease?

Immunologic research into pathogenic mechanisms operating in autoimmune-mediated atherosclerosis initially focused on adaptive immunity. Current interest is directed to more basic inflammatory mechanisms. Chronic inflammation (innate immunity-associated) may trigger initial events that can lead to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. This chronic inflammation may start early in life and be p...

Strategies for Identification of Susceptibility Genes in Complex Autoimmune Diseases

[Atherosclerosis as a systemic disease].

Atherosclerosis is a widespread, chronic progressive disease that mainly involves medium-sized arteries. Clinically, it can become apparent as ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, or peripheral arterial disease. In Spain, atherosclerosis is responsible for 124,000 deaths each year. Despite the trend towards a reduction in the aged-adjusted mortality rate for cardiovascular disease, ...

Systemic autoimmune disorders in celiac disease.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Celiac disease is an immune-mediated disorder clinically characterized by a multitude of symptoms and complications. The comorbidity between celiac disease and other autoimmune disorders has been clearly established. RECENT FINDINGS Two main theories have been postulated to explain this comorbidity: (1) linkage disequilibrium between the genes responsible for celiac disease ...

[Systemic autoimmune disease in patients with uveitis].

OBJECTIVE A descriptive study was conducted on patients with uveitis to determine the frequency of associated autoimmune systemic diseases. METHODS 64 patients with uveitis were studied. The patients were not known to have an underlying autoimmune systemic disease prior to the diagnosis of uveitis. All patients had the following immunological tests performed: serum immunoglobulins, complement...