Ilena Rose
Guest
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 Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:24 pm Post subject: IMPORTANT REPOST: A predisposition: Genetic factors may be |
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Note from Ilena Rosenthal, Health Lover:
http://breastimplantawareness.blogspot.com
It was over 10 years ago that this study came out ... if the breast
implant industry really wanted to find out may be harmed by their
products ... they would have continued on this vein.
Instead ... "Leroid" Young developed and pushed Tofu Titties (the
disastrous soyoil filled experiment) and now cheek implants.
www.BreastImplantAwareness.org
A predisposition: Genetic factors may be key to symptoms of breast
implant illness
http://record.wustl.edu/archive/1996/04-18-96/3152.html
Anecdotal reports of illness by some women with silicone gel breast
implants eventually led the Food and Drug Administration in 1992 to
ban their use pending a safety review. However, researchers still do
not know why some women with implants, and not others, develop
symptoms suggestive of an illness. Now, a study by School of Medicine
researchers has concluded that genetic factors may play a role.
The study found that women with breast implants who had debilitating
symptoms such as chronic fatigue, burning breast pain and muscle or
joint pain were more likely to share genetic characteristics that
differentiate them from women with implants who have no symptoms.
"To our surprise, we found that some women with implants may be
genetically predisposed to develop symptoms," said lead researcher V.
Leroy Young, M.D., professor of surgery.
Moreover, the researchers found that women with implants and symptoms
also were more likely than others in the study to produce
autoantibodies against their B cells. B cells are a key component of
the immune system, and high frequencies of such autoantibodies are
clearly abnormal, Young said.
"Autoantibodies to B cells may hold clues that will help explain why
some women with implants develop symptoms," he said. The team reported
its findings in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery journal in
December 1995.
The researchers studied the genetic characteristics of 199 women -- 77
with implants and symptoms, 37 with implants and no symptoms, 54
healthy women without implants and 31 women diagnosed with
fibromyalgia, a disease defined by pain in connective tissues such as
muscles, tendons and ligaments. Fibromyalgia is not known to be
immune-mediated and has no known cause.
Women with fibromyalgia were included in the study to determine
whether women with implants are prone to develop the rheumatological
disorder. Symptoms of fibromyalgia are similar to those experienced by
women with implants who develop symptoms. "At first, we thought
implants might trigger fibromyalgia," Young said.
Women with implants and those with fibromyalgia averaged 46 years of
age; those in the healthy comparison group were slightly younger,
averaging 37 years of age. Virtually all of the women in the study
were white.
Genetic characteristics were determined by analyzing blood samples.
The researchers zeroed in on a group of proteins encoded by a
collection of genes called the major histocompatibility complex (MHC),
which is known to play an important role in immune response. They
wanted to find out whether the MHC molecules of symptomatic women with
implants differed from those of women with implants who did not have
symptoms.
The investigators used HLA (human leukocyte antigen) typing to analyze
blood samples; organ transplant teams use the same procedure to assess
genetic similarities between organ donors and recipients.
Molecule could be a marker
Women with implants and symptoms and women with fibromyalgia were
significantly more likely to have an HLA molecule called DR-53. The
molecule was present in 68 percent of symptomatic breast implant
patients and 65 percent of fibromyalgia patients, compared with 35
percent of the asymptomatic implant patients. Fifty-two percent of the
healthy women also had the DR-53 molecule, which is similar to its
natural frequency among white women. DR molecules play a critical
immunoregulatory role because they control the interactions among the
immune system>s T cells, B cells and antigen-presenting cells.
Young and his colleagues initially suspected that women with implants
and symptoms actually had fibromyalgia. But when they looked closer,
they found that 42 percent of symptomatic women with implants formed
antibodies against their own B cells. Only 2 percent of healthy women
formed autoantibodies, compared with 14 percent of asymptomatic women
with implants and 19 percent of fibromyalgia patients.
More striking, however, was the observation that 81 percent of the
patients with implants who produced autoantibodies were DR-53
positive. This compares with 33 percent of fibromyalgia patients who
were positive for both autoantibodies and DR-53.
"There>s clearly a link between DR-53 and autoantibodies," Young said.
"But we won>t know what it means until we find out why these women are
forming autoantibodies at such a high rate."
Women with symptoms had had their implants for an average of 12 years,
compared with asymptomatic women who had had their implants for an
average of 10 years. So it>s possible that the latter group may
develop symptoms over time.
Young and his co-workers now are trying to find out what is triggering
the production of autoantibodies. If they are formed in response to
silicone gel or one of its components, then the asymptomatic implant
group also might be expected to have high frequencies. On the other
hand, if the autoantibodies are somehow related to the presence of
DR-53, fibromyalgia patients might be expected to have higher
frequencies of B cell autoantibodies.
If the study>s results are confirmed, DR-53 could be viewed as a
marker for individuals who may be predisposed to develop an
immune-mediated response or hypersensitivity reaction following
silicone breast implantation.
But Young cautioned that it is too early for the information to be
used clinically and that women with implants should not rush to their
doctors and request HLA tissue typing, a test that costs about $1,300.
"The test is useful as a research tool but would not be helpful in
making clinical decisions," Young explained. "However, women with
breast implants need regular follow-ups with their physicians."
-- Caroline Decker |
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