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Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 18e
| Part 15. Disorders of the Joints and Adjacent Tissues > Section 2. Disorders of Immune-Mediated Injury > |
Chapter 318. Autoimmunity and Autoimmune Diseases
Sections: Autoimmunity and Autoimmune Diseases: Introduction, Mechanisms of Autoimmunity, Further Readings.
Topics Discussed: autoimmune diseases; autoimmunity.
Excerpt:"One of the central features of the immune system is the capacity to mount an inflammatory response to nonself while avoiding harm to self tissues. While recognition of self plays an important role in shaping the repertoires of immune receptors on both T and B cells, and in the clearance of apoptotic debris from tissues throughout the body, the development of potentially harmful immune responses to self-antigens is, in general, precluded. The essential feature of an autoimmune disease is that tissue injury is caused by the immunologic reaction of the organism against its own tissues. Autoimmunity, on the other hand, refers merely to the presence of antibodies or T lymphocytes that react with self-antigens and does not necessarily imply that the self-reactivity has pathogenic consequences. Autoimmunity is present in all individuals; however, autoimmune disease represents the end result of the breakdown of one or more of the basic mechanisms regulating immune tolerance...."
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