Adrenal cortex (steroid 21-hydroxylase) al.

Antibodies to adrenal cortex (steroid 21-hydroxylase al.) (request code P45C21 serum blood test)

Depression, anorexia, misunderstood symptoms, it eventually turns out to be Addison's disease.

If you stop ovulating before the age of 40, this may be related to Addison's disease. In the majority of patients, in addition to antibodies to 21-hydroxylase (adrenal cortex positive), antibodies to steroid hormone-producing cells (SCA) are then found.

When antibodies are made against the adrenal cortex, in 50% of cases it develops Addison's disease in the future.

Antibodies to the adrenal cortex are present in 25 to 94% of patients with certain autoimmune diseases. 21-hydroxylase antibodies have a high predictive value for developing Addison's disease.

Addison's disease results from inflammation of the adrenal glands.
The inflammation occurs because the body's own defenses attack the adrenal glands (an autoimmune disease). The
inflammation damages the outside of the adrenal gland (the adrenal cortex).
As a result, the cortex can no longer make important hormones.

Why the body's own immune system attacks the adrenal glands is not yet known. It probably has to do with hereditary predisposition and conditions in the environment.