MS and Other Auto Immune Diseases Coincidence

Comorbid autoimmune diseases in MS patients have been studied extensively with controversial results. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex autoimmune disease arising as a result of complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors. The fact that it shares susceptibility genes with other autoimmune diseases raises the question as to whether MS co-occurs more frequently with these diseases than in the general population. the autoimmune comorbidities evaluated included: alopecia areata, ankylosing spondylitis, autoimmune thyroid disease, bullous pemphigoid, celiac disease, dermatomyositis, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, inflammatory bowel disease, myasthenia gravis, pemphigus vulgaris, pernicious anemia, polymyositis, primary adrenocortical insufficiency, primary biliary cirrhosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren’s syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, uveitis, vitiligo, and Wegener’sgranulomatosis. the most prevalent comorbid autoimmune diseases were psoriasis and thyroid disease. Considering all studies, most autoimmune conditions affected fewer than 5% of individuals with MS with the possible exceptions of celiac disease, type I diabetes, thyroid disease, uveitis and psoriasis for which at least one estimate was over 5%. possible explanations for co-existence of two or even more immune mediated diseases shared susceptibility genes and common causative environmental factors. Although genome screens have failed to identify any common loci between MS and other autoimmune disorders, clustering of nonmajor histocompatibility complex (MHC) susceptibility loci may be another explanation for this phenomenon. Actually regarding nonMHC susceptibility genes a lot of the identified autoimmunity loci seems to be shared among multiple autoimmune diseases