Criteria for environmentally associated autoimmune diseases.
J Autoimmun
; 39(4): 253-8, 2012 Dec.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-22771005
ABSTRACT
Increasing evidence supports a role for the environment in the development of autoimmune diseases, as reviewed in the accompanying three papers from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Expert Panel Workshop. An important unresolved issue, however, is the development of criteria for identifying autoimmune disease phenotypes for which the environment plays a causative role, herein referred to as environmentally associated autoimmune diseases. There are several different areas in which such criteria need to be developed, including 1) identifying the necessary and sufficient data to define environmental risk factors for autoimmune diseases meeting current classification criteria; 2) establishing the existence of and criteria for new environmentally associated autoimmune disorders that do not meet current disease classification criteria; and 3) identifying in clinical practice specific environmental agents that induce autoimmune disease in individual patients. Here we discuss approaches that could be useful for developing criteria in these three areas, as well as factors that should be considered in evaluating the evidence for criteria that can distinguish individuals with such disorders from individuals without such disorders with high sensitivity and specificity. Current studies suggest that multiple lines of complementary evidence will be important and that in many cases there will be clinical, serologic, genetic, epigenetic, and/or other laboratory features that could be incorporated as criteria for environmentally associated autoimmune diseases to improve diagnosis and treatment and possibly allow for preventative strategies in the future.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Projetos de Pesquisa
/
Doenças Autoimunes
/
Exposição Ambiental
/
Interação Gene-Ambiente
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Autoimmun
Assunto da revista:
ALERGIA E IMUNOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2012
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos