Clinical Immunology

Autoimmunity and Inflammation

The term autoimmunity refers to a failure of the body’s immune system to identify its own cells and tissues as “self”. Instead, immune responses are launched against these cells and tissues as if they were foreign or invading bodies. Inflammation is a process by which the body's white blood cells and substances they produce protect us from infection with foreign organisms, such as bacteria and viruses. Multiplesclerosis, the most common nerve disease in young adults, is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the nervous system that is believed to be due to a misguided autoimmune attack on myelin, a protective coating on nerve cells. In multiple sclerosis, myelin is slowly eroded by the body's immune system, leading to problems with muscle coordination and vision. As the disease progresses, for some reason inflammation decreases, but lasting damage has already been done to body tissues.