Research

Free radical theory of autoimmunity

Subburaj Kannan

DNA Repair & Drug Resistance Group, Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-0609, USA

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Theoretical Biology and Medical Modelling 2006, 3:22doi:10.1186/1742-4682-3-22

Published:	7 June 2006

Abstract

Background

Despite great advances in clinical oncology, the molecular mechanisms underlying the failure of chemotherapeutic intervention in treating lymphoproliferative and related disorders are not well understood.

Hypothesis

A hypothetical scheme to explain the damage induced by chemotherapy and associated chronic oxidative stress is proposed on the basis of published literature, experimental data and anecdotal observations. Brief accounts of multidrug resistance, lymphoid malignancy, the cellular and molecular basis of autoimmunity and chronic oxidative stress are assembled to form a basis for the hypothesis and to indicate the likelihood that it is valid in vivo.

Conclusion

The argument set forward in this article suggests a possible mechanism for the development of autoimmunity. According to this view, the various sorts of damage induced by chemotherapy have a role in the pattern of drug resistance, which is associated with the initiation of autoimmunity.