Immunologic and Genetic Factors in Autoimmune Diseases

RECENT advances have solidified the development of immunology as a laboratory discipline and accelerated its evolution as a clinical science. An important benefit of this progress is the improvement in our understanding of autoimmunity. In this article we will review current aspects of that subject. The extensive literature required us to restrict our analysis to certain topics; those we have chosen to emphasize concern newly discovered immunologic and genetic mechanisms. The autoimmune diseases that exemplify these recent developments include systemic lupus erythematosus, Graves' disease, Type I diabetes mellitus, and myasthenia gravis. We will therefore focus on them but deal with . . .