https://goo.gl/lyOyck
Neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases (NPDs)......
Here, we discuss that many NPDs coincide with subtle chronic or flaring brain inflammation sometimes escalating with infiltrations of lymphocytes in the inflamed brain parts causing mild to severe or even lethal brain damage. Thus, NPDs show all features of autoimmune diseases. In this review, we postulate that NPDs resemble autoimmune-driven inflammatory diseases in many aspects and may belong to the same disease spectrum. Just like in autoimmune diseases, NPD symptoms basically are manifestations of a chronic self-sustaining inflammatory process with detrimental consequences for the patient. Specific inhibition of the destructive immune responses in the brain, leaving the patient’s immune system intact, would be the ultimate solution to cure patients from the disease. To reach this goal, the primary targets, e.g., the primary self-antigens (pSAgs) of the patient’s chronic (auto)immune response, need to be identified.