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Autoimmune Diseases
Autoimmune diseases are disorders in which the body's immune system reacts against some of its own tissues and produces antibodies to attack it The immune system is a network of organs, cells and molecules that work together to defend the body against attacks by foreign (not of the body) invaders such as germs, bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. When one of these invaders (antigens) tries to break into the body, the body's first line of defense is the skin and mucous membranes.
In general terms, when antibodies are directed against the body's own cells, or when B and T cells attack and destroy their own body's cells and not foreign antigens, an autoimmune disorder can result.
Autoimmune disorders are classified into two types, organ-specific (directed mainly at one organ) and non-organ-specific (widely spread throughout the body).
Examples of organ-specific autoimmune disorders are insulin dependent diabetes (Type I) which affects the pancreas; Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease which affects the thyroid gland; pernicious anemia which affects the stomach; Addison's disease which affects the adrenal glands, and chronic active hepatitis which affects the liver.
Examples of non-organ-specific autoimmune disorders are rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus and myasthenia gravis
| Acute Leukemia - Immunophenotyping Markers | Chronic - Immunophenotyping Markers |
| Systemic Autoimmune Diseases | Localized Autoimmune Diseases |
| Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Juvenile RA (JRA) (joints; less commonly lung, skin) | Type 1 Diabetes mellitus (pancreas islets) |
| Lupus [Systemic Lupus Erythematosus] (skin, joints, kidneys, heart, brain, red blood cells, other) | Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Graves' disease (thyroid) |
| Scleroderma (skin, intestine, less commonly lung) | Celiac disease, Crohn's disease, Ulcerative colitis (GI tract) |
| Sjogren's syndrome (salivary glands, tear glands, joints) | Multiple sclerosis* |
| Good pasture’s syndrome (lungs, kidneys) | Addison's disease (adrenal) |
Wegener's granulomatosis
(blood vessels, sinuses, lungs, kidneys) | Primary biliary cirrhosis, Sclerosing cholangitis, Autoimmune hepatitis (liver) |
| Polymyalgia Rheumatica (large muscle groups) | Temporal Arteritis / Giant Cell Arteritis
(arteries of the head and neck) |
| Guillain-Barre syndrome (nervous system) | |