When my mother fell ill with the autoimmune disease SLE in the 1960s, there was basically no treatment, says Christopher Goodnow.
The Australian is in Stockholm to receive this year's Crafoord Prize. What he and co-laureate American David Nemazee have discovered on their own is what mechanisms prevent everyone from being affected by autoimmune diseases.
You can say that they turned the question around, says Anders Bengtsson, professor of rheumatology at Lund University.
Wrong attack
The body's immune system is constructed so that we can defend ourselves against various attacks. But sometimes it goes wrong and the defense starts attacking our own healthy cells. Then autoimmune diseases arise.
Much has happened since Goodnow's mother fell ill 60 years ago. For a long time, anti-inflammatory drugs with cortisone were often left with. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis often ended up in a wheelchair.
There have been major breakthroughs and there are several different treatments available today. It's tough, but many of my patients experience significant improvement. It's long-term basic research that has made it possible, says Anders Bengtsson.
Reboot the system
Recently, a treatment used for certain cancer forms has also been tested, known as Car-T-cell treatment. There, the patient's own cells are taken, "reprogrammed" outside the body and reinserted. Back in the body, they can attack faulty B cells that you want to get rid of.
Imagine your computer has crashed. It's not worth trying to find the fault, but it may be enough to restart, says Christopher Goodnow, who sees it as future treatments and even cures for autoimmune diseases.
Destroy the system
He is based in Australia but has largely been active in the USA, including at Stanford. What he now sees happening with the Trump administration's demands makes him deeply disturbed.
After World War II, the USA showed the way for how to finance and create environments for new technology and health and commercial successes. Then the current administration comes and vandalizes this well-designed system.
I just hope it can recover, he says.
Normally, the immune system only attacks foreign cells. But certain diseases and treatments can make the immune system not function as it should.
In certain diseases, the white blood cells also attack the body's own cells and tissues. Such diseases are called autoimmune diseases. Examples of these are rheumatoid arthritis, celiac disease, certain thyroid diseases, type 1 diabetes, SLE, Addison's disease, and multiple sclerosis, MS.
The symptoms vary greatly, depending on which autoimmune disease you have. There are medications that can dampen the immune system and remove most symptoms.
Source: 1177
The Crafoord Prize in polyarthritis 2025 of six million kronor goes to Christopher Goodnow, Australia, and David Nemazee, USA. They have discovered important mechanisms that prevent B cells from attacking the body's own tissues in autoimmune diseases.
Anna-Greta and Holger Crafoord's foundation was established in 1980 and the first Crafoord Prize was awarded in 1982.
The prize is intended to promote basic research in mathematics and astronomy, geosciences, biosciences, and polyarthritis.
Source: kva.se
