Chapter 12, Problem 33SAE

Summary Introduction

To review:

The events leading to loss of self-tolerance and to autoimmune diseases.

Introduction:

The primary task of immune system is to protect the body from the antigens or foreign invading particles. It is accomplished by tolerating self-antigens and attacking the foreign antigens. When this ability of the immune system is compromised and immune system is not able to differentiate in body cells (self-antigens), foreign antigens lead to immune dysfunction of starting attacking its own tissues. This phenomenon is called as an autoimmune disease.