Essentials of Glycobiology—Part 7 (Every Disease)

Larry A. Law

The National Academy of Science states that every disease affecting humans significantly involves glycans (glycobiology sugars). Every disease? Almost all disease can fit into two categories. Disease is either autoimmune or degenerative. Some examples of autoimmune include Hashimoto's, multiple sclerosis (MS), myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), type 1 diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis—there are more than 100 of them! 

Degenerative and Autoimmune Disease

Examples of degenerative disease include heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, Lyme disease—these are even more prevalent than autoimmune disease. Scientists have discovered that every disease state is associated with missing sugars. Sugars are missing from cell-surface, antenna structures that should be there on normal cells. The immune system cells can get confused and decide to attack normal cells. Cells are identified to the immune system by a combination of proteins called antigens on their surface. These antigens act like bar codes and are unique to each cell or substance. For example, human leukocyte antigens (HLA) are a group of identification molecules that are almost unique to each person. They allow the body to distinguish between self and foreign, healthy and unhealthy cells and tissue. When sugars are missing on these identity fingerprints, the immune system cells can get confused and decide to attack. The resulting malady is called autoimmune disease.

​Degenerative disease results if the immune system doesn't attack when it is supposed to. Our body gets rid of abnormal cells all the time. The immune system knows how to get rid of cancer cells. It deals with abnormal cells every day of our life. But when communication breaks down, the immune system doesn't recognize the cancer cells and ignores them. Pharmaceutical companies are trying to target damaged cells and deliver drugs to kill them more effectively. Unfortunately, there are always side-effects and problems with this approach because all drugs are synthetic and toxic over time. In addition, finding cell receptors that only exist on damaged cells and not healthy cells is virtually impossible so there is always collateral damage to the body.