The autoimmune tautology: From polyautoimmunity and familial autoimmunity to the autoimmune genes.

Abstract

Autoimmune diseases (ADs) are chronic conditions initiated by the loss of immunological tolerance to self-antigens and represent a heterogeneous group of disorders that afflict specific target organs or multiple organ systems [1]. The chronic nature of these diseases places a significant burden on the utilization of medical care, direct and indirect economic costs, and quality of life. The fact that ADs share several clinical signs and symptoms (i.e., subphenotypes), physiopathological mechanisms, and genetic factors has been called autoimmune tautology and indicates that they have common mechanisms