Autoimmune diseases arise from an abnormal immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body (autoimmunity). This may be restricted to certain organs (e.g. in autoimmune thyroiditis) or involve a particular tissue in different places (e.g. Goodpasture's disease which may affect the basement membrane in both the lung and the kidney).
The treatment of autoimmune diseases is typically with immunosuppressionâ€"medication that decreases the immune response.
A large number of autoimmune diseases are recognized. A major understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases has been the application of genome wide association scans that have identified a striking degree of genetic sharing among the autoimmune diseases.
Criteria
For a disease to be regarded as an autoimmune disease it needs to answer to Witebsky's postulates (first formulated by Ernst Witebsky and colleagues in 1957 and modified in 1994):
- Direct evidence from transfer of pathogenic antibody or pathogenic T cells
- Indirect evidence based on reproduction of the autoimmune disease in experimental animals
- Circumstantial evidence from clinical clues
- Genetic architecture clustering with other autoimmune diseases
Effects
It has been estimated that autoimmune diseases are among the top ten leading causes of death among women in all age groups up to 65 years.
A substantial minority of the population suffers from these diseases, which are often chronic, debilitating, and life-threatening.
There are more than 80 illnesses caused by autoimmunity.
Classification
It is possible to classify autoimmune diseases by corresponding type of hypersensitivity: type I (i.e. urticaria induced by autologous serum), type II, type III, or type IV.
Development of therapies
In both autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, the condition arises through aberrant reactions of the human adaptive or innate immune systems. In autoimmunity, the patient’s immune system is activated against the body's own proteins. In chronic inflammatory diseases, neutrophils and other leukocytes are constitutively recruited by cytokines and chemokines, leading to tissue damage.
Mitigation of inflammation by activation of anti-inflammatory genes and the suppression of inflammatory genes in immune cells is a promising therapeutic approach.
See also
- Autoimmunity
- Immune-mediated disease
References
Further reading
External links
- Auto-immune disorders at DMOZ
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