Why your skin could sky rocket your autoimmune disease risk

I’ve always been fascinated by medical mysteries….

Like the man who looks like he’s part tree. Or the girl who doesn’t age. Or people who miraculously heal from deadly diseases.

But a medical mystery doesn’t have to be bizarre and extraordinary to capture my attention. Everyday mysteries related to common diseases are just as interesting. Like this mysterious phenomenon…

Every year, millions more women get autoimmune diseases than men. In fact, some estimates show that 75 percent of the 50 million Americans with an autoimmune disease are women.

Why do women’s immune systems attack them more often than men’s do? It’s a mystery that desperately needs solving. And researchers from the University of Michigan may have finally cracked it…

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VGLL3: The protein triggering autoimmune reactions

Researchers from the University of Michigan may have just found the driving factor behind the autoimmune disease epidemic among women — VGLL3.

VGLL3 is a protein that affects gene expression. Past research shows that women have more VGLL3 in their skin cells than men. And in a recent study, University of Michigan researchers discovered that VGLL3 could trigger autoimmune reactions.

They found that mice with too much VGLL3 in their skin had an autoimmune response that not only attacked skin but internal organs too. This reaction was like what humans with lupus experience. It resulted in severe skin rashes and kidney injuries.

Past research shows that men with lupus also have excess VGLL3. So, does this mean scientists have finally solved this longstanding medical mystery?

They’re getting closer.

Effective ways to improve your autoimmune disease

Even though this is an exciting discovery for autoimmune disease sufferers everywhere (especially women), it’ll still be a long time before this new science translates into any real treatments.

If you’re living with an autoimmune disease and looking for ways to improve your health in the meantime, here are some suggestions to get you started:

• Visit a functional medicine doctor. Doctors who practice functional medicine dedicate themselves to getting to the root cause of your disease. Since there’s no single cause for all autoimmune diseases, these doctors can help you identify the various factors that are making you feel sick. These factors may not be the same between any two autoimmune disease sufferers (even those with the same autoimmune disease). Disease-driving factors may include things like vitamin D deficiency, antibiotic use, thyroid imbalances, omega-3 deficiencies. Here’s a searchable database created by the Institute for Functional Medicine to help you find a practitioner near you.
• Go big on vitamin D. If you do see a functional medicine doctor, you may want to talk to him or her about taking high doses of vitamin D. Some research shows that unusually high doses of vitamin D can start reversing autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. Just don’t increase your vitamin D intake significantly without partnering with a doctor first.
• Heal your leaky gut. Leaky gut, a condition where your intestinal wall becomes permeable and allows toxins and undigested food to seep into your bloodstream, is tied to a number of autoimmune diseases, including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and systemic lupus erythematosus. Taking spore-based probiotic supplements is one proven way to heal a leaky gut.
• Overhaul your diet. Changing your diet can heal a leaky gut too. That may be why so many autoimmune disease sufferers have successfully sent their diseases into remission through diet changes alone. There are a number of diets that have helped people reverse autoimmune diseases, but the most popular are paleo-inspired diets like one Terry Wahls used to reverse her secondary progressive MS, anti-inflammatory diets (similar to the Mediterranean diet) and plant-based diets.

Sources:

1. Retinoic Acid, Leaky Gut, and Autoimmune Diseases — Nutrients
2. Discovery may help explain why women get autoimmune diseases far more often than men — MedicalXpress
3. The female-biased factor VGLL3 drives cutaneous and systemic autoimmunity — JCI Insight
4. How many Americans have an autoimmune disease? — American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association
5. The Functional Medicine Approach — The Institute for Functional Medicine
6. The 4 Best Diets to Try If You Have an Autoimmune Disease — Health