Map of Autoimmune Diseases in association with Type 1 Diabetes

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1

The Nature Magazine published an article called 'Genetic and epigenetic fine mapping of causal autoimmune disease variants'. In this research they have tried to identify nucleotide changes in the DNA and the autoimmune disease they potentially cause. Not surprisingly they identified clusters of diseases that might have something in common or are even co-conditions. To some degree these findings can explain why some conditions are more likely in association with Type 1 diabetes.

I took their general association map and reduced it to those candidates that might have some association with Type 1:

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The more intense (red) the color the more active is the specific gene change for this disease (as far as I have understood the terms enrichment and SNP).

To some degree there seems to be an association of Type 1 with these autoimmune diseases:

1. Crohn's disease
2. Multiple sclerosis
3. Celiac disease
4. Systemic lupus erythematosus
5. Ulcerative colitis
6. Primary biliary cirrhosis
7. Allergy (who would have thought? ;-)
8. Rheumathoid arthritis
9. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis
10. Psoriasis

I am missing conditions like Hashimoto and other thyroid related conditions with strong association to Type 1. I would also suspect that skin conditions like Lichen sclerosus and Lichen planus are associated.

What associations do you see in this map or the more general mapping?

2

This is really interesting! While I have not heard of MS being strongly associated before, it certainly appears so here. Celiac and Chrohn's are no surprise, of course, and it would be interesting to add in the thyroid conditions as you say.

3

I just realized that Autoimmune thyroiditis is actually Hashimoto. This is an interesting case here because from the colors you would not suspect a stronger association.

For Muliple sclerosis I now think that it should have 10th place. The activity of many gene changes needs to be much higher than in T1 to express MS.

4

Interesting. I have had Hashi's as long as I have had Type 1. I have recently been experiencing other autoimmune disorder symptoms that cross the spectrum between scleroderma, celiac, and Crohn's. When it all comes down to it.......it's the immune system. That "perfect" storm that allowed the development of the autoimmune conditions also seems to correlate with a high level of stress, whether internal or external. When I was diagnosed at 10 the doctor indicated that he believed my body's reaction was set off by a case of chicken pox, which I had nine months before I was diagnosed. That was 31 years ago.