Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học General Psychiatry cung cấp cho các bạn kiến thức về ngành y đề tài: Andrew P Cope. | Available online http content 5 5 223 Review Ageing autoimmunity and arthritis An introduction Andrew P Cope The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Division Faculty of Medicine Imperial College London UK Correspondence Andrew P Cope e-mail Published 8 Aug 2003 Arthritis Res Ther 2003 5 223-224 DOI ar992 2003 BioMed Central Ltd Print ISSN 1478-6354 Online ISSN 1478-6362 As populations grow greater effort is made to understand the political and economic impact of ageing. Understanding the pathophysiology of this degenerative process has engendered no less effort or interest. At the subcellular and molecular level ageing heralds changes in the balance between DNA damage and repair changes in the frequency of somatic mutations as well as deterioration in the functional integrity of mitochondria and its own DNA 1 . At a cellular level these changes can manifest as clonal expansions driven by a strong survival advantage and in some cases as malignant transformation. Recent events in the cloning arena have forced scientists and physicians to reflect upon the potential impact of somatic cell nuclear transfer. What is the impact of genetic chimaerism Does it accelerate ageing What are the mechanisms and at what level do they work Readers of Arthritis Research Therapy must be particularly curious to know why Dolly the sheep the first mammal to be cloned from an established adult somatic cell subsequently developed arthritis 2 . We have yet to find the answer to these important questions. It has long been recognised that there exists a relationship between ageing and susceptibility to infection. It follows from this that defects in the ageing immune system must somehow be to blame. Quite how the immune system ages and how immune senescence predisposes individuals to disease is still a mystery. Nevertheless advances in basic cell biology and a better appreciation of how cells integrate and respond to signals acquired .
