Cooke Anne
Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, UK.
Blood Cells Mol Dis. 2009 Mar-Apr;42(2):105-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bcmd.2008.10.004. Epub 2008 Nov 22.
The development of some autoimmune diseases is increasing in the developed world faster than can be accounted for by genetic change. The development of these autoimmune diseases, such as Type 1 diabetes, is known to be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Environmental factors which have been considered to play a role include infectious agents such as viruses or bacteria. The search for a common initiating infection in the aetiology of Type 1 diabetes as proved thus far inconclusive. An alternative way of considering a role for infection is that infection may have historically prevented the development of autoimmune disease. In the developing world changes have occurred such that many chronic infections have been eliminated and this may have led to the emergence of autoimmune pathology. Evidence in support of this hypothesis is considered here and factors governing the development of autoimmunity compared with those which might have influenced the development of childhood leukaemia.
在发达国家，某些自身免疫性疾病的发病率增长速度超过了基因变化所能解释的范围。已知这些自身免疫性疾病，如1型糖尿病的发展受到遗传和环境因素的影响。被认为起作用的环境因素包括病毒或细菌等感染因子。迄今为止，在1型糖尿病病因中寻找共同的起始感染尚未得出定论。另一种考虑感染作用的方式是，感染在历史上可能阻止了自身免疫性疾病的发展。在发展中国家，情况发生了变化，许多慢性感染已被消除，这可能导致了自身免疫性病理的出现。本文将探讨支持这一假设的证据，并将自身免疫性疾病发展的相关因素与可能影响儿童白血病发展的因素进行比较。
