Autoimmune Diseases

Our bodies have an immune system that protects us from disease and infection. But if you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks itself by mistake.

Normally the immune system's army of white blood cells helps protect the body from harmful substances, called antigens. Examples of antigens include bacteria, viruses, toxins, cancer cells, and foreign blood or tissues from another person or species. The immune system produces antibodies that destroy these harmful substances.

Autoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body attacks its own cells. This may be restricted to certain organs (e.g. in 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).

Autoimmune disorders are classified into two types, organ-specific (directed mainly at one organ) and non-organ-specific (widely spread throughout the body).

Nearly 79% of autoimmune disease patients in the USA are women. Also they tend to appear during or shortly after puberty. It is not known why this is the case, although hormone levels have been shown to affect the severity of some autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

The treatment of autoimmune diseases is typically with immunosuppression - medication which decreases the immune response.

There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases.

Examples of Autoimmune Diseases Include:

Further Information Regarding Autoimmune Diseases

Improved Vision and Inflammation in Graves Eye Disease
Study shows that rituximab, used for other autoimmune disease, is effective after steroids fail. A small group of patients with severe Graves eye disease experienced rapid improvement of their symptoms - and improved vision - following treatment with the drug rituximab.

Ankylosing Spondylitis - Knee, Hip and Spine Pain
Information on Ankylosing Spondylitis a chronic inflammatory arthritis and autoimmune disease affecting spinal joints and causing eventual fusion of the spine.

Celiac Disease - Facts and Information
Celiac disease is a genetic disorder; persons who consume gluten, a certain type of protein, set off an autoimmune response that causes damage to their small intestine. The response then causes their small intestine to lose its ability to absorb nutrients found in food, leading to malnutrition and additional complications.

Autoinflammatory Disease Model Reveals Role for Innate Immunity
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have developed the first mouse model for auto-inflammatory diseases, disorders that involve the over-activation of the body's innate, primitive immune system.

Reactive Arthritis - Definition, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Reactive arthritis is a type of arthritis which affects a person's eyes, urethra, skin and joints. The disease presents as either acute or chronic, with periods of sudden remission or recurrences. Reactive arthritis affects different organs in a persons body, with differing symptoms that may appear at different times.

Myasthenia Gravis - Definition, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Myasthenia Gravis is a form of chronic autoimmune disorder resulting in progressive skeletal muscle weakness. Myasthenia Gravis affects persons from all ethnic groups and both genders, although it commonly affects young adult women under the age of forty years, and men over the age of sixty. Myasthenia Gravis can affect persons of any age as well.

Sjogren's Syndrome - Definition, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Sjogren's syndrome is a chronic disorder first described by Swedish eye doctor Henrick Sjogren which causes a lack of sufficient moisture production in specific glands in a person's body. Sjogren's syndrome is an autoimmune disease that occurs when a person's immune system attacks and destroys their moisture-producing glands. The glands affected include the person's tear and salivary glands, although their bowel, lungs and additional organs may sometimes also be affected.

Dermatomyositis - Definition, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment
Dermatomyositis is an acquired myopathy disease which affects a person's muscles that is characterized by both a distinctive skin rash and inflammation. While the disease is rare, it can happen to persons of any age, although it commonly affects adults who are between the ages of forty and sixty, or children between the ages of five and fifteen years. Women tend to experience dermatomyositis more often than men.

Pernicious Anemia - Definition, Symptoms, Risks, Diagnosis and Treatment
Pernicious anemia is a form of megaloblastic anemia that happens when a person's body is unable to absorb vitamin B12 from their gastrointestinal tract. Pernicious anemia is also known as, "Congenital Pernicious Anemia," "Megaloblastic Anemia," and, "Combined Systems Disease."

Grave's Disease - Definition, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
Grave's disease is the most common of all forms of hyperthyroidism and is named after Sir Robert Graves who first described it in the early nineteenth century. The disease is the leading cause of hyperthyroidism, which causes a person's thyroid glands to produce excessive amounts of hormones.

Addison's Disease - Definition, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
Addison's disease affects people from all age groups, as well as both men and women. Addison's disease is often characterized by muscle weakness, fatigue, weight loss, low blood pressure, and on occasion by a darkening of the person's skin.

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - Definition, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis is a thyroid gland disorder that was discovered by Dr. Hakaru Hashimoto in 1912. The disorder is also known by the names, "Chronic Lymphocytic Thyroiditis," and, "Autoimmune Thyroiditis."

Antiphospholipid Syndrome Information
Antiphospholipid Syndrome is an immune system disorder characterized by excessive blood clotting that may present complications with pregnancy such as premature birth, miscarriage, or even unexplained fetal death, as well as the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies in the person's blood.

Vitamin D may Exacerbate Autoimmune Disease
Deficiency in vitamin D has been widely regarded as contributing to autoimmune disease, but a review appearing in Autoimmunity Reviews explains that low levels of vitamin D in patients with autoimmune disease may be a result rather than a cause of disease and that supplementing with vitamin D may actually exacerbate autoimmune disease.

The Human Immune System Part 2
The immune system is a protection mechanism, designed to defend a person's against microbes, bacteria, toxins, viruses and parasites. In order to understand the human immune system, it may help to take on the perspective of what happens once it dies. Doing so demonstrates important aspects of the immune system.

Stopping Autoimmunity before it Strikes
Current research describes a new method to track the development of autoimmune diseases before the onset of symptoms. The related report by Zangani et al, "Tracking early autoimmune disease by bioluminescent imaging of NF-κB activation reveals pathology in multiple organ systems," appears in the April 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

The Human Immune System
The human immune system is made up of a number of interdependent cell types which collectively protect the person's body from various parasitic, fungal, bacterial and viral infections, as well as from the growth of tumor cells.

Immune System has Ability to Learn
Half of the immune system has a hidden talent, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered. The finding, published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will help scientists better understand the immune system and seek new ways to modulate its responsiveness.

New Way to Stop Autoimmune Diseases and Transplant Rejection
The possibility that these antibodies can be used to treat diverse autoimmune diseases with minimal risk of infections represents a new horizon for reversing these disabling and often fatal conditions.