3 thoughts on “Autoimmune Diseases”

  1. It still leaves a big mystery. What causes the immune system to target proteins of fellow cells in the first place?

    Is it a malfunctioning system (or even certain cells, possibly with mutations or other genetic problems) that trigger inappropriately on friendly proteins? Is it a pathogen that snuck in with human-like proteins causing the problem?

    Is it merely that the immune cells have a different lineage than the tissue cells they’re triggering on? It is possible for parts of the body to have weird genetic differences (fetus cells embedding in a mother’s body, for example), so perhaps some autoimmune diseases are equivalent to transplant organ rejection.

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