Library · Disease
Autoimmune disease
Make it clearer
An autoimmune disease is one that appears when the immune system, the body's defense, mistakenly attacks the healthy cells of the body's own organs and tissues.
To keep that from happening, the immune system has a process called tolerance: self antigens, meaning the markers carried by the body's own cells, stay off the target list and do not trigger a response. When tolerance fails, autoimmunity can appear. It is a security system that stopped recognizing the people who live there.
It is not one single disease: there are more than 80 types. In type 1 diabetes the attack targets the pancreas. In rheumatoid arthritis it can reach many parts of the body, including the joints, the lungs and the eyes.
In brief
An autoimmune disease occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks the healthy cells of the body's own organs and tissues.
What fails is tolerance, the process that keeps the body from mounting a response against its own antigens; when it fails, autoimmunity can appear.
It is a security system that stopped recognizing the people who live there.
There are more than 80 types: in type 1 diabetes the attack targets the pancreas, and in rheumatoid arthritis it can reach many parts of the body, including the joints, lungs and eyes.
Sources (2)
- MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of MedicineAutoimmune Diseases, MedlinePlusPublished
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingBiochemistry, Autoimmunity, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated