Autoimmunity
The immune system has very powerful effector mechanisms that can eliminate a wide variety of pathogens. Early in the study of immunity, it was realized that these could, if turned against the host, cause severe tissue damage. Autoimmune responses resemble normal immune responses to pathogens as specifically activated by antigens, in this case self-antigens or auto-antigens, and give rise to auto-reactive effector cells and to antibodies, called autoantibodies, against the self-antigen.
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