Autoimmune diseases: A spectrum of disease processes

Abstract

Autoimmune diseases may either be organ specific or non-organ specific and are caused by the failure of the immune system to recognize self-antigens and thus react against self. The mechanisms of the disease processes include interaction of antibodies with cell surface components, formation of autoantigen-autoantibody complexes and sensitization of T cells. Common features of autoimmune diseases are the breakdown of tolerance of self-antigens and the modification of autoantigens during apoptosis which leads to the development of autoantibodies by bypassing the normal tolerance mechanisms. Because the autoimmune diseases share many clinical findings, making a differential diagnosis is often challenging and usually the causes cannot be determined.