Immune system affective disorders

What has become an even greater concern in recent years is the phenomenon known as multiple chemical sensitivity disorder triggered by exposures to many chemicals in the environment. Synthetic chemicals are all around us. They are in the products we use, in the clothes we wear, in the food we eat, in the air we breathe at work. Because chemicals are everywhere in the environment, it is not possible to escape exposure. For this reason many people have become sensitized to the chemicals around them. In fact, it is estimated that 15% of the population has become sensitized to common household and commercial products. For some people the sensitization is not too serious a problem. They may have what appears to be a minor allergy to one or more chemicals. Other people are much more seriously affected. They may feel tired all the time, and suffer from mental confusion, breathing problems, sore muscles, and a weakened immune system. Such people suffer from a condition known as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). 

Severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) is a rare inherited disorder in which multiple components of the immune system are affected. About 50% of SCID cases are caused byX-linked recessive mutations in the gene encoding a subunit of a receptor for interleukins 2,4,... 

Mechanism of Action. The exact mechanism of this drug in immune-related disorders is not fully understood. Sulfasalazine may affect key components in the immune system, including suppression of NK... 

It now seems probable that specific disturbances occur in the immune system in psychiatric illness that are not artefacts of non-specific stress factor, institutionalization or medication. The known effects of the neuroendocrine system on the immune response, and the recent evidence that receptor sites for neurotransmitters and neuroendocrine factors occur on lymphocytes and macrophages, support the hypothesis that immunological abnormalities may assist in precipitating the symptoms of anxiety and depression, commonly symptoms of major affective disorders. 

A deficiency in insulin production results in a condition called diabetes mellitus. Approximately 6.2 percent of the population in the United States is affected with diabetes. Type 1 diabetics account for 10 percent of those individuals suffering from diabetes mellitus. It is also known as juvenile diabetes and generally develops in young people, typically between the ages of ten and fifteen years, as a result of an autoimmune disorder. Why the body s immune system turns on itself, attacking and destroying beta cells, the pancreatic cells in which insulin is synthesized, is not clear. The unfortunate consequence is insulin deficiency. 

A decline in immunologic function with increasing age has long been recognized. Thus, older individuals are more prone to various infectious diseases, autoimmune phenomena, amyloidosis, myelomatosis, chronic lymphoprolifera-tive disorders, and various forms of cancer. This decreased responsiveness of the immune system is primarily related to thymus-derived (T) lymphocytes (B17). However, B-lymphocytes are also affected since there is frequently a decreased... 

Soto O, Murphy TK. The immune system and bipolar affective disorder. In De Geller B, DelBello MP, editors. Bipolar Disorder in Childhood and Early Adolescence. New York Gilford Press, 2003 193-214. 

Type 11 vitamin D-resistant rickets is characterized by a lack of responsiveness of target tissues to calcitriol and is caused by a genetic defect in the calcitriol receptor. Affected children develop more or less normally until about 9 months of age, then develop severe rickets with alopecia and a wide variety of disorders, including immune system dysfunction. Three variants are known ... 

The mechanisms for these interactions are not well defined, although numerous hypotheses have been advanced. It should be noted at the outset that attempts to determine the relationship between depression and altered immune function are confounded by the multiplicity of factors known to be associated with both and that may alter the interrelationship. Examples include age, gender, sleep status, the likelihood that depression represents a complex of disease states with varying involvement of the immune system, and the frequent presence of other psychiatric or physical disorders which can affect both psychological status and immune function. A detailed review of this topic has been published (hwin, 2001). Indeed, it has been pointed out by Irwdn that current data suggest immune changes in MDD specifically correlated with the disorder are also seen with stress and other psychiatric disorders, suggesting some common characteristic(s) shared by these problems (hwin, 2001). 

Myasthenia gravis is a progressive disorder characterized by muscle weakness eye muscles are often the first affected. Research has shown it to be an autoimmune disease in which the victim forms antibodies to his or her nicotinic acetylcholine receptors at motor endplates. It is characterized by fatigability and weakness of the skeletal muscles, especially those of the eyes. Approximately 90% of the patients have droopy eyelids and double vision. Treatments include corticosteroids and thymectomy to reduce the actions of the immune system and anti-ChE agents such as pyridostigmine to improve the effectiveness of the receptors that remain. 

MS is an inflammatory demyelinating autoimmune disease affecting the CNS. In MS, the immune system attacks the myelin sheath of nerve cell fibers in the brain and spinal cord. MS is predominantly a T-lymphocyte mediated disorder, and cytokines may therefore have a key role in the pathogenesis of the disease. MS is the only neurological disorder where therapeutic manipulation of the cytokine system influences development of the disease (Adibhatla and Hatcher,... 

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