engleski

Autoimmune diseases in archaeological populations.

Autoimmune diseases appear as a result of immune system activation in the absence of any external threat to the organism, leading to tissue damage. Recent clinical studies found a high prevalence of different autoimmune diseases within families and at the population level, indicating that certain genetic factors predispose to autoimmunity in general, while the development of a specific autoimmune disease depends on genes that govern specific organ vulnerability. Among over 40 recorded autoimmune diseases that can affect any tissue in the body, very few of them leave lesions on skeletal tissue (autoimmune joint diseases), making them visible in archaeologically derived skeletal populations. Published papers of autoimmune joint diseases from archaeological context usually represent isolated case studies or report the prevalence of a specific disease within the population. Instead of concentrating on specific autoimmune joint disease, we were interested in the presence of different diseases within the same skeletal sample, which would suggest population susceptibility and accumulation of the alleles responsible for autoimmunity in general within the sample. Anthropological analysis of the skeletal material from the late medieval site Uzdolje-Grablje, Croatia, revealed three cases (out of 9 adults and 16 juveniles) of different autoimmune joint diseases. Although further genetic analyses are required to confirm this hypothesis, the high prevalence of autoimmune joint diseases among individuals buried at this site are in agreement with clinical studies that have found genetic bases for autoimmune response.

Autoimmune diseases; Uzdolje-Grablje; Croatia

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