The animated videos in NORD’s Rare Disease Video Library provide brief introductions to rare disease topics for patients, caregivers, students, professionals and the public. NORD collaborates with medical experts, patient organizations, videographers and Osmosis to develop the videos, which are made possible by individual donations, educational grants and corporate sponsorships. NORD is solely responsible for the content.
Overview
Autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 1 (APS-1) is a rare and complex recessively inherited disorder of immune-cell dysfunction with multiple autoimmunities. It presents as a group of symptoms including potentially life-threatening endocrine gland and gastrointestinal dysfunctions. Autoimmune disorders occur when antibodies and immune cells are launched by the body against one or several antigens of its own tissues. APS-1 is caused by changes (mutations) in the autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene. HLA-DR/DQ genes also play a role in predisposing to which of the component autoimmune disease the patient actually develops.
APS-1 needs to be distinguished from the unrelated but more common APS-2 which is characterized by type-1 diabetes and autoimmune thyroid diseases.
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