Autoimmunity: Are we asking the right question?

Abstract

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For decades, the main question immunologists have asked about autoimmunity is “what causes a break in self-tolerance?” We have not found good answers to that question, and I believe we are still so ignorant because it’s the wrong question. Rather than a break in self-tolerance, I suggest that many autoimmune diseases might be due to defects in normal tissue physiology.

Keywords

• autoimmunity
• autoreactivity
• T helper cells (Th cells)
• programmed cell death, danger model
• tissue resident cells
• tissue-based class control