Evolution of Theories in Autoimmune Disease: From Early Concepts to Modern Integrations

Background

Since the discovery of adaptive immunity and its ability to react to virtually any molecular structure, the concept of autoimmunity, historically denoted “horror autotoxicus”, has concerned immunologists and come to reality in description and understanding of many common as well as rare diseases. Autoimmune diseases cover a large group of conditions traditionally classified as systemic rheumatic diseases and organ-directed diseases. The etiology of autoimmune diseases involves both genetic and environmental factors, e.g., MHC profiles and infectious agents but a generally accepted and unifying theory has not been put forward yet.



Goal

Theories of autoimmunity include defective self-tolerance, molecular mimicry, bystander activation, epitope spreading, and others. However, no stringent criteria applicable to all diseases considered to be of an autoimmune nature have been generally accepted, although consensus criteria for several such diseases exist.

In this research topic, we aim to define such criteria, as well as to advance understanding of theoretical and experimental aspects of the subjects described above and the diseases characterized as autoimmune.



We welcome the submission of Original Research, Review, Mini Review, and Perspective articles.

We welcome studies that explore:

- Development and validation of unified diagnostic criteria for autoimmune diseases
- In-depth analysis of autoimmune disease criteria: investigating theoretical perspectives and experimental methodologies to establish a shared framework
- Unifying theories in autoimmunity and exploration of common disease mechanisms
- Comparative analyses of systemic versus organ-targeted autoimmunity
- Experimental studies on theories such as molecular mimicry and epitope spreading
- New therapeutic approaches and their impact on theoretical models of autoimmunity