IPEX (immunodysregulation polyendocrinopathy enteropathy X-linked syndrome) is a rare disease linked to the dysfunction of the transcriptional activator FoxP3.
It leads to the dysfunction of regulatory T-cells and the subsequent autoimmunity. The disorder manifests with psoriasiform or eczematous dermatitis, nail dystrophy, autoimmune endocrinopathies (overlapping with those seen in APECED syndrome), and autoimmune skin conditions such as alopecia universalis and bullous pemphigoid.
This autoimmunity is called IPEX and it is the attack from the body's own immune system against the body's own tissues and organs. Early age onset of this disease in males causes severe enlargement of the secondary lymphoid organs, insulin dependent diabetes, eczema, food allergies, and infections. There has been limited success in treating the syndrome by bone marrow transplantation.
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“[T]he syndrome known as life is too diffuse to admit of palliation. For every symptom that is eased, another is made worse. The horse leech’s daughter is a closed system. Her quantum of wantum cannot vary.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)