When my mother fell ill with the autoimmune disease SLE in the 1960s, there was basically no treatment, says Christopher Goodnow.
Australian Christopher Goodnow is in Stockholm to receive this year's Crafoord Prize, along with American David Nemazee, for their discovery of the mechanisms that prevent autoimmune diseases.
You could say they turned the question around, says Anders Bengtsson, professor of rheumatology at Lund University.
Wrong attack
The body's immune system is designed to defend us against various attacks. But sometimes it goes wrong and the defense starts attacking our own healthy cells. That's when autoimmune diseases occur.
Much has happened since Goodnow's mother fell ill 60 years ago. For a long time, anti-inflammatory medications with cortisone were the only option. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis often ended up in wheelchairs.
There have been major advances and today there are several treatments. These are tough diseases, 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 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, it's enough to restart, says Christopher Goodnow, who sees it as future treatments and even a cure for autoimmune diseases.
Destroy the system
He is based in Australia but has largely worked in the US, including at Stanford. What he now sees happening with the Trump administration's demands on universities leaves him deeply disturbed.
After World War II, the US showed the way for how to finance and create environments for new technology and health, and for commercial successes. Then the current administration comes and destroys 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 include 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 suppress the immune system and remove most symptoms.
Source: 1177
The Crafoord Prize in polyarthritis 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
