After my encounters with the immunologists and some material I received from Russian academics, my thinking on autoimmunity has progressed. I see no reason to withhold you the latest thinking (update 9 Jan):
I hope now (to be able) to build a coalition of immunologists, neurologists and other medical experts as well as policy makers and engage with them in further discussion. One of the first tasks would be to integrate the thinking in the various documents.
I know, the thinking does not offer us an immediate solution. But I am solemnly convinced that in order to find a solution for our problem, we first need to understand our disease. Without having at the very least a basic understanding, we will continue to be peddling in the mud, try all sort of things in big RCTs and find expensive medications with only very marginal benefits.
You may think this guy is living in a tunnel but I do certainly believe in the concepts described in the above documents. And I am not alone there, my views are shared - at least in principle as a new very interesting horizon for thinking - by some of the world most esteemed immunologists and neurologists. It shows to me that the world can change. The big challenge now is to get a wider buy-in from the medical world and get change to happen.
If there are any important new milestones or events, I will certainly report them here. In the meanwhile, if you have any good ideas, please don't hesitate and let me have them.
Theoretical Immunology
Re: Theoretical Immunology
Last edited by Leonard on Sat Jan 09, 2021 2:19 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Theoretical Immunology
The thinking in this recent article is completely aligned with the above thinking.
And it offers hope that some day there may be an effective therapy for us.
It talks about the 'holy grail' for the reversal or abrogation of autoimmunity.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 19.1593085
But I think conceptually the thinking still misses one very important rather fundamental point.
And that is that autoimmunity is caused by a protein soup of herpes and HERV, partly foreign and partly self.
Ab2 alfa beta and gamma anti-antibodies or regulatory antibodies are misguided because of different binding characteristics of the soup.
See for instance https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2 ... -2020-0142
The complexity of classes of anti-idiotype antibodies (Ab2s) is enormous. And these in turn relate or interact with many other bioregulators and hormones and can alter the biological activity of antigens which makes the picture even more complicated.
See for instance https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7345059/
Issues such as age and antigen concentration mechanisms, age and induction of (life-long) tolerance, immunity hump, age and antibody titers, concentration/exposure of antibodies and induction of immune response and immunization, and dysregulation/deregulation all play a role in the regulatory system. And of course, the important role of cellular health/fitness comes around the corner here as well including issues such as cellular morphology and compartmentalization, aberration of spindles, chromatid cohesion, chromosome alignment, membrane permeability, protein stability of SNPs, and mitochondrial dynamics.
The idiotypic regulatory system is also coupled to brain regions that are associated with reflex immune responses (nervus vagus) and can be mapped out as an immunological homunculus, and is embedded in the immune-neuroendocrine system where anti-idiotypic antibodies can mimic structural and functional properties of some bioregulators and thereby alter the effects of biologically active endogenous or exogenous immunogenic agents via the anti-idiotypic principle. Hence, a system emerges of almost infinite complexity.
While it may not be possible to understand the system in full depth, it might be possible to analyse and define characteristics of the idiotypic regulatory system, dynamics, eigenvalues etc. And, as part of that effort, to rethink the concept of autoimmunity in the presence of the herpes/HERV protein soup, integrate the documents in the above postings and amalgamate the thinking.
The challenge now is to get a wider intellectual buy-in into the thinking and to get this sort of work underway. And maybe, on the fringes of the analysis, we find a solution for our problem.
And it offers hope that some day there may be an effective therapy for us.
It talks about the 'holy grail' for the reversal or abrogation of autoimmunity.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10 ... 19.1593085
But I think conceptually the thinking still misses one very important rather fundamental point.
And that is that autoimmunity is caused by a protein soup of herpes and HERV, partly foreign and partly self.
Ab2 alfa beta and gamma anti-antibodies or regulatory antibodies are misguided because of different binding characteristics of the soup.
See for instance https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2 ... -2020-0142
The complexity of classes of anti-idiotype antibodies (Ab2s) is enormous. And these in turn relate or interact with many other bioregulators and hormones and can alter the biological activity of antigens which makes the picture even more complicated.
See for instance https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7345059/
Issues such as age and antigen concentration mechanisms, age and induction of (life-long) tolerance, immunity hump, age and antibody titers, concentration/exposure of antibodies and induction of immune response and immunization, and dysregulation/deregulation all play a role in the regulatory system. And of course, the important role of cellular health/fitness comes around the corner here as well including issues such as cellular morphology and compartmentalization, aberration of spindles, chromatid cohesion, chromosome alignment, membrane permeability, protein stability of SNPs, and mitochondrial dynamics.
The idiotypic regulatory system is also coupled to brain regions that are associated with reflex immune responses (nervus vagus) and can be mapped out as an immunological homunculus, and is embedded in the immune-neuroendocrine system where anti-idiotypic antibodies can mimic structural and functional properties of some bioregulators and thereby alter the effects of biologically active endogenous or exogenous immunogenic agents via the anti-idiotypic principle. Hence, a system emerges of almost infinite complexity.
While it may not be possible to understand the system in full depth, it might be possible to analyse and define characteristics of the idiotypic regulatory system, dynamics, eigenvalues etc. And, as part of that effort, to rethink the concept of autoimmunity in the presence of the herpes/HERV protein soup, integrate the documents in the above postings and amalgamate the thinking.
The challenge now is to get a wider intellectual buy-in into the thinking and to get this sort of work underway. And maybe, on the fringes of the analysis, we find a solution for our problem.
Last edited by Leonard on Sun Dec 27, 2020 12:36 am, edited 4 times in total.
Re: Theoretical Immunology
This very recent article is very interesting and would seem to be fully aligned with the thinking on this thread:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7691656/
Integrate it all, and we arrive at a total break-through. It is a new theory of evolution and the important role of viruses therein, a new theory of immunity with a central role for cellular health and fitness, and a new overall system characterization with on the fringes of that analysis perhaps some ideas on how to overcome disease or prevent getting diseased.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7691656/
Integrate it all, and we arrive at a total break-through. It is a new theory of evolution and the important role of viruses therein, a new theory of immunity with a central role for cellular health and fitness, and a new overall system characterization with on the fringes of that analysis perhaps some ideas on how to overcome disease or prevent getting diseased.
Re: Theoretical Immunology
Autoimmunity: an explanatory model and questions
See the figure on the uneven pages together with the text on the next page
A number of key questions emerge about the workings of the immune system and the role of herpes
See the figure on the uneven pages together with the text on the next page
A number of key questions emerge about the workings of the immune system and the role of herpes
Re: Theoretical Immunology
Einstein said: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them".
Now I don't want to compare myself with Einstein but what I do know is that a pair of fresh eyes is badly needed.
Current views in medicines need a complete overhaul or reassessment, some issues need a new horizon for thinking.
And most important of all, one needs a holistic view across the boundaries of all the various medical disciplines.
I am trying to offer this pair of fresh eyes and a new horizon for thinking.
Under the link, you find my view on the etiology of autoimmune diseases (update V1.1 Feb 23, 2021).
Now I don't want to compare myself with Einstein but what I do know is that a pair of fresh eyes is badly needed.
Current views in medicines need a complete overhaul or reassessment, some issues need a new horizon for thinking.
And most important of all, one needs a holistic view across the boundaries of all the various medical disciplines.
I am trying to offer this pair of fresh eyes and a new horizon for thinking.
Under the link, you find my view on the etiology of autoimmune diseases (update V1.1 Feb 23, 2021).