[conspire] Auto Immune

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Texx (texxgadget at gmail.com):

> I spotted a similarity between the virus related cytokine storm and
> autoimune, hence the question,
> although the storm is a LOT MORE intense than a Lupus flare.

When you asked "Are cytokines part of the problem in auto immune
diseases?", I thought you _might_ be thinking about cytonine storms
(aka 'cytokine release syndrome'), but your question as phrased was
_way_ broader than that.

A cytokine storm happens when a whole lot of a person's white blood
cells (leukocytes) have a mass freak-out about a perceived pathogen
threat -- and then respond by releasing a whole lot of pro-inflammatory
cytokine molecules.  Inflammation is not _inherently_ bad:  In a
response to a pathogen, it creates a physical barrier against spread of
infaction, flushes out infected areas, and promote healing.  The blood
vessels dilate, and the inflammation attracts phagocytes (especially
neutrophils) to attack the alien cells.

But in a cytokine _storm_, there is just way too damned much of this
response, constituting an overreaction that leads to fever, tissue
destruction, and worse things such as shock, shutdown of major organ
function, and consequent death.  Sepsis during a severe infection 
frequently leads to that chain of disaster, for example.

Since all autoimmune diseases centrally feature inflammation and the
immune system, naturally cytokines are all over that picture.

The 1917-1918 'Spanish' [sic] flu killed a large number of otherwise
healthy young people by triggering cytokine storms in them, causing
their lungs to fill with fluid from the inflammation (i.e., causing
viral pneumonia), leading pretty quickly to death (basically from
suffocation).  Severe COVID-19 tends to kill in the same way.

Neither of those cascade failures is a lot like any of the classic
autoimmune diseases, except in the sense of involving cytokines and
inflammation.

(My father Arthur Moen's younger brother, my Uncle Ray, had and
eventually died from one such disease, relapsing-remitting multiple
sclerosis.)



> One of the first doctors to catch the virus up in WA almost died from a
> cytokine storm, but hes recovering now.
> I dont think hes back on duty yet.  Those ventilators do a fair amount of
> lung damage on top of what the virus dishes out.

Not only that, but now there is also credible talk about lasting damage
to other organs during such severe cases.

(Hey, I think I spotted your apostrophe key.  It's landed just to the
left of your Return key.  Yr. welcome.)