TUESDAY, April 20, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- Research in mice points to a two-way link between heart disease and autoimmune diseases, says a study in the current issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
The finding suggests people with autoimmune disease may benefit from low-fat diets.
It's recognized that autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis are associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis and heart disease. This study found the converse is true in mice -- atherosclerosis can have a negative effect on autoimmunity.
For this study, researchers created mice susceptible to both disorders by cross-breeding autoimmune-prone mice with other mice prone to atherosclerosis.
The offspring had bigger fatty deposits in their blood vessels than the parent mice that were only susceptible to atherosclerosis. That showed, as expected, that autoimmune disease makes heart disease worse.
The researchers also found the offspring had more severe autoimmune symptoms than the parent mice that were only prone to autoimmunity. These autoimmune symptoms were made even worse when the offspring were fed a high-fat diet.
Autoimmune disease can be caused by inefficient removal of dying cells, leading to an accumulation of cellular debris. That can trigger an immune response against our own organs. The offspring mice in this study had high levels of this kind of cellular debris.
The study authors believe the oxidized fats that cause atherosclerosis also prevent removal of this cellular debris. They conclude that low-fat diets may benefit people with autoimmune disease.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has more about autoimmune diseases.
