autoimmunity

(Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions) Patients with a certain type of scleroderma may get cancer and scleroderma simultaneously, Johns Hopkins researchers have found, suggesting that in some diseases, autoimmunity and cancer may be linked.

(American Journal of Pathology) Current research suggests that a common oral bacterium may exacerbate autoimmune disease.

The related report by Nichols et al, "Unique Lipids from a Common Human Bacterium Represent a New Class of TLR2 Ligands Capable of Enhancing Autoimmunity," appears in the December 2009 issue of the American Journal of Pathology.