Autoimmune diseases

Autoimmunity is an abnormal immune response in which the immune system fails to properly distinguish self from non-self and attacks the body's own tissues. In this state, the body produces autoantibodies and cytotoxic T cells directed against its own cells; when the affected cells behave as targets (antigens) in this way, they are termed autoantigens. When this misdirected attack actually produces a disease state, the condition is called an autoimmune disease — in short, autoimmunity represents the immune system's specificity and self-recognition machinery malfunctioning and turning inward, and it is evidenced by detectable autoantibodies and T cells reactive against the host's own antigens. …