Season 3, Episode 1: When The Immune System Fights The Wrong Thing

Epigenetics - The Medicine Nobody Told You About · Oct 6, 2026 · 23m

In this episode, I open the season with a fundamental question: why does the immune system, designed to protect us, sometimes turn on the body itself? I explain molecular mimicry, the case of mistaken identity at the cellular level, and introduce the concept of penetrance - the fact that carrying a disease gene does not guarantee you will develop the disease. I also talk about the thymus, the immune system's training ground, and how the AIRE gene's job is to teach immune cells which proteins belong to the self and must never be attacked. The season premise is this: autoimmune disease is not a…