Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Zoology

Autoimmune diseases are the third leading cause of morbidity and mortality, after heart disease and cancer, in the industrialized world. Systemic lupus erythematosus )SLE), is a prototypic multi-system autoimmune disease that can affect the heart, joints, skin, lungs, blood vessels, liver, kidneys, and nervous system. There is no one specific cause of SLE but the impact of infections on the development of SLE is substantial and the relationship between infections and autoimmunity in general is a complex phenomenon that has been the focus of much research. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of either live or gamma irradiated malaria infection on the autoimmune female BWF1 mice model of lupus. We observed many positive consequences of infection with live malaria parasite while gamma irradiation has diminished this effect. Some negative effects of infection were also observed. Taken together, our data reveal that infection of lupus mice with live malaria decrease apoptosis in renal tissue and confers protection against lupus nephritis the effect that couldn{u2019}t occur in case of gamma irradiated parasite infection

Issued also as CD