Autoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body attacks its own cells. Autoimmune diseases are a major cause of immune-mediated diseases.

Gender influence

Women tend to be affected more often by autoimmune disorders; nearly 79% of autoimmune disease patients in the USA are women. Also they tend to appear during or shortly after puberty. It is not known why this is the case, although hormone levels have been shown to affect the severity of some autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Other causes may include the presence of fetal cells in the maternal bloodstream.

Autoimmune diseases

It is possible to classify autoimmune diseases by corresponding type of hypersensitivity: type II, type III, or type IV. (No type of autoimmune disease mimics type I hypersensitivity.)

Name	Accepted/ suspected	Hypersensitivity	Autoantibody
Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM)	Accepted
Addison's disease	Accepted
Ankylosing spondylitis	Accepted
Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS)	Accepted
Autoimmune hemolytic anemia	Accepted	II
Autoimmune hepatitis	Accepted		Anti-Smooth Muscle Actin
Autoimmune inner ear disease	Suspected
Bullous pemphigoid	Accepted	II	Anti-Bullous Pemphigoid Antigen 1 and 2 (Hemidesmosome antigens)
Coeliac disease	Accepted	IV	Anti-transglutaminase
Chagas disease	Suspected
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease	Suspected
Dermatomyositis	Accepted
Diabetes mellitus type 1	Accepted	IV
Endometriosis	Suspected
Goodpasture's syndrome	Accepted	II	Anti-Basment Membrane Collagen Type IV Protein
Graves' disease	Accepted	II
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS)	Accepted	IV	Anti-ganglioside
Hashimoto's disease	Accepted	IV
Hidradenitis suppurativa	Suspected
Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura	Accepted	II
Interstitial cystitis	Suspected
Lupus erythematosus	Accepted	III
Morphea	Suspected
Multiple sclerosis	Accepted	IV	Anti-Myelin Basic Protein
Myasthenia gravis	Accepted	II
Narcolepsy	Suspected
Neuromyotonia	Suspected
Pemphigus Vulgaris	Accepted	II	Anti-Desmogein 3
Pernicious anaemia	Accepted	II
Polymyositis	Accepted
Primary biliary cirrhosis	Accepted		Anti-p62, Anti-sp100, Anti-Mitochondrial(M2)
Rheumatoid arthritis	Accepted	III	Rheumatoid factor
Schizophrenia	Suspected
Scleroderma	Suspected		Anti-topoisomerase
Sjögren's syndrome	Accepted
Temporal arteritis (also known as "giant cell arteritis")	Accepted	IV
Vasculitis	Accepted	III
Vitiligo	Suspected
Wegener's granulomatosis	Accepted		Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic(cANCA)

References

External links

• Links to pictures of Autoimmune Diseases (Hardin MD) at University of Iowa
• Educational Website for Graves' and other Autoimmune Diseases