. Why do auto immune diseases like psoriasis only target certain parts of the body or skin and not everything?
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Psoriasis does affect the entire body, it simply is worse in some places for any of dozens if not hundreds of reasons. Some factors are sun damage, friction damage, chemical agitation, etc.
There are also forms of psoriasis that affect more than the skin, such as psoriatic arthritis which affects joints. With this form you will have more skin reactions at the joints damaged by the arthritis.
Psoriasis does affect most of the body, you just can’t see a lot of the affected parts. Psoriasis is essentially a disease of inflammation via the immune system as my doctor told me. Psoriatic patients are at higher risk for things like heart disease because of the damage done through inflammation. This widespread damage is also why insurance companies tend to approve the expensive monoclonal antibody treatments (MABs) to reduce the body’s immune response because it’s not just treating skin. As a side note MABs are also being found to help a lot of other diseases they didn’t realize such as Dupuytrens contracture and psoriatic arthritis.
Curious about this as I was diagnosed in June with palmoplantar psoriasis and only the palms of my hands/soles of my feet are visually impacted
I suffer vasculitis and colitis. Started with colitis, but it affects alot more than just the parts it’s labelled to. I get joint pain, chronic fatigue, and skin issues, amongst other things.
I have a very mild case of psoriasis and can’t think of a part of my body where a dot has not popped up. Although yes, I am more likely to have them on my head and elbows.
To answer your question, autoimmunity is caused by antigen-specific immune cells attacking specific cell types. Each of these immune cells are tailored to recognize a certain pattern of molecule, and can only bind and attack cells that display that pattern. This is why rheumatoid frequently targets cartilage, MS targets myelin, and type 1 diabetes targets pancreatic islet cells (insulin producing cells).
Good question! Med student and immunologist here.
First of all, you should know that there definitely are systemic autoimmune diseases that target many organs (lupus, for example).
Each cell within your body is made up of different building blocks (proteins). During the development of your immune system, it learns how to recognize self from foreign, so it can kill all the bad stuff without damaging your own body. In cases of autoimmune diseases, this process didn’t go perfectly. As a result, your immune system attacks one of these self building blocks, and the type of disease and the symptoms you get depends on which one.
Now, because the cells in your body are different (your lung cells are different from your skin cells or your nerve cells etc), the pattern of symptoms will depend on which protein your immune system attacks and in which cells it is present.
I’m afraid it’ll very quickly get over the ELI5 level if I were to go deeper 🙂
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