Word: systemize
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...healthy immune system is the body’s best ally-an automated engine of biological warfare capable of destroying almost any microbial parasite it encounters. But, like all agents of destruction, when it spirals out of control it can be as deadly to friend...
Fifteen million Americans know this in their bones. They are victims of a group of more than 40 disorders that arise when the immune system launches a sustained attack against the body’s own tissues. Ailments as diverse as psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and Type I diabetes are all caused by an immune system run amok. No one knows what initiates any of these chronic diseases or how they might be cured, but researchers have nonetheless made significant headway in developing new drugs to treat them-drugs that represent the first substantial advancement in the field in 50 years...
Most of these new drugs are genetically engineered biological molecules, and the majority are designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis and its close clinical relative, lupus. Like all autoimmune diseases, both disorders strike women disproportionately. In RA, the immune system attacks the joints and eventually weakens the bones, causing excruciating pain, fatigue and daily bouts of fever. With lupus, the attack is far more generalized, affecting blood vessels, joints, skin and several internal organs. In severe cases, it can be lethal...
Both can be treated, but there’s a catch: the treatments are nearly as harsh on the body as the diseases themselves. Steroids, for example-a mainstay of lupus therapy-shut down the immune system and suppress painful inflammation, but can also promote hardening of the arteries, bone loss, psychosis and obesity. Steroids, in fact, are among of the leading causes of death and morbidity for patients with chronic lupus...
Autoimmune responses follow a similar course, except that the cells targeted belong to the body. "Biological response modifiers," as the latest drugs are known, tamp down that response by disrupting communication between the immune system’s soldiers...