Sometimes, your immune system can mistakenly recognize part of your body, as foreign. As a result, it releases proteins called autoantibodies to attack healthy cells.
There are more than 80 autoimmune diseases, out of which 14 of them are the most common ones.
Dear Bekiyad Shasho Daro, your definition of Autoimmunity is well-articulated and accurate. In fact, your definition could be further enhanced by including some additional information, which is presented below.
'' Autoimmune disorders are characterized by an abnormal immune response that targets normal components of the body, leading to inflammation, functional disturbances, or cell damage that causes clinical symptoms. This response usually targets "self-antigens" or "autoantigens," which are molecules (such as proteins, carbohydrates, or nucleic acids) that are normally present in the body. In contrast, "non-self" molecules from foreign organisms stimulate an immune response. Typically, autoimmune diseases involve both T and B cells, and they can affect specific tissues or organs or be widespread throughout the body. These conditions can also vary in their duration, with some being acute and others chronic''
Reference:
Pisetsky, D. S., Schur, P. H., & Romain, P. L. (2020). Overview of autoimmunity. Uptodate. com.
Autoimmunity should clearly differentiated from auto-inflammatory diseases.
The latter term is formulated just recently.
Dear Dr Bekiyad Shasho Daro ,
Our immune system is a very sophisticated complex system, and it will never make any mistake. The main target of our immune system is the damaged or dysfunctional self-body-cells. Prof Matzinger has a new paper published in Frontiers in Immunology titled "Autoimmunity: Are we asking the right question?", you may have a look:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.864633/full
Article Autoimmunity: Are we asking the right question?
In our recent paper, we have proposed the "Self-destroy and rebuild" model of the inflammatory response of the immune system:
Article SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Inflammation, Immunonutrition, and Pat...
If any of our body cell is attacked by our immune system, it just means this cell is already dysfunctional and need to be destroyed.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Microbiology
- Virology
- Virus