Autoimmune disease:An illness that occurs when the body tissues are attacked by its ownimmune system. Theimmunesystem is a complex organization within the body that is designed normally to "seek and destroy" invaders of the body, including infectious agents. Patients withautoimmunediseases frequently have unusual antibodies circulatingintheirbloodthat target their own body tissues.
Examples of autoimmune diseases includesystemic lupus erythematosus,Sjogren syndrome, Hashimoto thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis,juvenile(1型)糖尿病、多发性肌炎、scleroderma,Addison disease, vitiligo, pernicious anemia, glomerulonephritis, and pulmonary fibrosis.
Autoimmune diseases are more frequent in women than in men. It is felt that the雌激素of females may influence the immune system topredisposesome women to autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, the presence of oneautoimmune diseaseincreases the chance for developing another simultaneous autoimmunedisease.
