Diagnosing autoimmune disease

Patent Pending Autoimmune diseases arise from an abnormal immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body (autoimmunity). This may be restricted to certain organs (e.g. in autoimmune thyroiditis) or involve a particular tissue in different places (e.g. Goodpasture's disease which may affect the basement membrane in both the lung and the kidney). The treatment of autoimmune diseases is typically with immunosuppression—medication that decreases the immune response. A large number of autoimmune diseases are recognized. A major understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases has been the application of genome wide association scans that have identified a striking degree of genetic sharing among the autoimmune diseases.