AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES – CONTRIBUTING FACTORS, SPECIFIC CASES OF AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES, AND STEM CELL AND OTHER THERAPIES

Autoimmune disease represents a group of more than 60 different chronic autoimmune
diseases that affect approximately 6% of the population. It is the third major category of
illness in the United States and many industrialized countries, following heart disease
and cancer. Autoimmune diseases arise when one’s immune system actively targets and
destroys self tissue resulting in clinical disease. Common examples include Systemic
Lupus Erythematosus, Type 1 Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis.
While different in clinical features and may involve different organs, the underlying
mechanism is the failure of immune tolerance of the adaptive immune system.