The Sumaira Foundation and Connor B Judge Foundation are proud to present their first episode of their new joint podcast, 'Demystifying NMO!' Follow along with Austin Hoover, who lives with multiple sclerosis (the 'cousin' of NMO), and Chelsey Judge, PhD immunologist, as they chat about the basic science of autoimmune disease and NMO. They'll cover 3 main questions: 1) What is an autoimmune disease? 2) How does autoimmunity happen? 3) How does the immune response contribute to NMO?

Glossary of Key Terms Discussed:

Antigen: a particular component of a molecule/substance that the immune system recognizes

Autoimmune disease: when the immune system targets some component of its own body and reacts against it

Immune tolerance:When the immune system decides not to react against an antigen; ‘don’t react’

Anergy: when an immune cell becomes exhausted or functionless

Serum: a component of the blood that contains proteins, including antibodies

Seropositive: NMOSD patients who have the autoreactive AQP4 antibody in their serum

Seronegative: NMOSD patients who do not have the anti-AQP4 antibody in their serum