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OVERVIEW
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5
PART 6
PART 7
Quiz
CHART CLUE
Recurrent sterile inflammation – inflammation with no infection anywhere – was dismissed as “an infection we cannot find.” The sterile part was itself the clue: this was autoinflammation, not infection.
The Story
Assemble it. The neutrophil senses danger; potassium(K⁺): Major ICF cation; essential for muscle and nerve function. leaks out; the inflammasome assembles; broken pyrin fails to restrain it; IL-1 beta pours out; microtubules drive the cell to the trouble – and colchicine jams that machinery. Transport explains the swelling (Starling forces, effusions, ascites); an efflux pump explains the colchicine.
From Stina’s chart: “No source of infection identified.” She has a stack of visits that end with that line. Each negative workup felt like a dead end; each one was actually pointing straight at the answer — Chart Clue #3.
Compare Stina’s uninfected appendixA small, finger-like pouch attached to the cecum, thought to play a role in immune function. to an infected appendix.
Activity:
Activity:
Everything traces to one broken protein in every neutrophil. But why every cell – and why did her ancestry hide it? That’s Module 4: genetics.
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C
List of terms
- potassium
- appendix