A disease in which the body produces an immunogenic (i.e., immune system) response to some constituent of its own tissue. In other words the immune system loses its ability to recognize some tissue or system within the body as “self and targets and attacks it as if it were foreign. Autoimmune diseases can be classified into those in which predominantly one organ is affected (e.g., hemolytic anemia and chronic thyroiditis), and those in which the autoimmune disease process is diffused through many tissues (e.g., multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and rheumatoid arthritis).
For example, multiple sclerosis is thought to be caused by T cells attacking the sheaths that surround the nerve fibers of the brain and spinal cord. This results in loss of coordination, weakness, and blurred vision.
Inappropriate production of antibodies that are directed against parts of the body. For example, in most patients with hypothyroidism, antibodies are formed that participate in the destruction of the thyroid gland. In Graves’ disease, antibodies directed against the surface of the thyroid cell stimulate overproduction of thyroid hormones.
A disease in which the body produces an immune response against itself, autoimmune.
A disease in which the person’s own cells are attacked by autoantibodies.
Any of a large group of diseases marked by an abnormality of the functioning of the immune system that causes the production of antibodies against one’s own tissues and other body materials. Autoimmune diseases include systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and other collagen diseases; and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, autoimmune leukopenia, and other hemolytic disorders.
One of the growing number of otherwise unrelated disorders now suspected of being caused by inflammation and destruction of tissues by the body’s own antibodies (autoantibodies). These disorders include acquired hemolytic anemia, pernicious anemia, rheumatic fever, rheumatoid arthritis, glomerulonephritis, and several forms of thyroid dysfunction, including Hashimoto’s disease. It is not known why the body should lose the ability to distinguish between substances that are self and those that are non-self.
A disease produced when the body’s normal tolerance of the antigens on its own cells (i.e., self-antigens or autoantigens [AAg]) is disrupted. Current theories are that the loss of self-tolerance is the result of damage to AAgs by microorganisms, a strong similarity in appearance between the AAg and a foreign antigen, or a foreign antigen linking with an AAg. Autoantibodies (AAbs) produced either by B lymphocytes or self-reacting T lymphocytes attack normal cells whose surface contains a “self’ antigen, or autoantigen, destroying the tissue. Both inherited risk factors and environmental factors are considered significant in the development of autoimmune disease. Researchers have found links between AAb production and the inheritance of certain histocompatibility antigens, indicating that genetic susceptibility is probably a component in autoimmune diseases. Other unknown factors within the immune system may prevent it from stopping the abnormal inflammatory process once it has begun.
A disease in which the immune system attacks the cells of the body that the immune system normally protects.
A process in which the body’s immune system causes illness by mistakenly attacking healthy cells, organs, or tissues in the body that are essential for good health. Multiple sclerosis is believed to be an autoimmune disease, along with systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, and many others. The precise origin and pathophysiologic processes of these diseases are unknown.