Down Syndrome, the Immune System Disorder

Burke cites that comparing protein levels in blood samples from those with and without an extra 21st chromosome suggests that the underlying pathology is immune dysfunction. Several years ago, cancer researcher Joaquin Espinosa started down a completely new research path: studying Down syndrome, the most common intellectual disability. Thomas Blumenthal, who was at the time the executive director of the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome at the University of Colorado, recruited him to work on an intriguing question: Why is it that people with Down syndrome are protected from most solid tumors--including breast cancers, prostate cancers; and colon cancer--but have higher rates of leukemia and blood cancers? The long-mysterious medical associations with Down syndrome--higher rates of autism, certain autoimmune disorders, and certain cancers, along with very low rates of most solid-tumor cancers--could all have connections back to immune system dysfunction. Understanding the biochemical mechanisms at work in people with Down syndrome could therefore have huge implications.