Rheumatic diseases are caused by autoimmunity which is a common phenomenon, often occurring under normal immune regulation. In some situations, such as the response to cancer cells or damaged tissue, it may be beneficial to the individual. Autoimmune diseases are conditions in which damage to body organs results from the presence of autoantibodies or autoreactive cells (1). Thereby both antigen-specific as well as antigen-non-specific immunological targeting can be important. It is therefore necessary to understand the role of the immune system in health and disease so that immune manipulations do not replace one disease state with another (2).
Autoimmune diseases are subdivided into an organ- or cell-specific and a systemic type (Table 1). Although the systemic autoimmune diseases make symptoms in multiple organs, each disease may be accompanied by characteristic patterns of organ involvement. Formation of autoantibodies, deposition of immunoglobulins and the infiltration of tissues with mononuclear cells are cardinal features of these diseases.

Autoimmune diseases are conditions in which damage to body organs results from the presence of autoantibodies or autoreactive cells

Table 1 Type of autoimmune diseases