Autoimmune disease

From MEpedia, a crowd-sourced encyclopedia of ME and CFS science and history

Autoimmune diseases arise from an abnormal immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body.

Types of autoimmune diseases[edit | edit source]

Autoimmune diseases can be localized, which means affecting only specific tissues or organs, or systematic, making affecting many tissues or organs.[1]

Localized autoimmune disease[edit | edit source]

Examples include:

Systemic autoimmune diseases[edit | edit source]

Examples include:

Autoimmune hypothesis in ME and CFS[edit | edit source]

Shows fibromyalgia 30-77% overlap, Hashimoto's thyroiditis 17-20%, POTS 11-40% overlap and family history of autoimmune conditions 18-41% overlap.
Autoimmune conditions in people with ME/CFS. Source: Sotzny et al (2018), EUROMENE project.

Many people with ME/CFS also have autoimmune conditions such as Fibromyalgia or Hashimoto's thyroiditis, or have a family history of autoimmune diseases.[2] POTS, or postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, can be initiated or maintained by autoantibodies as well, and POTS is common in people with ME. A number of different immune system abnormalities have been found in some patients with ME/CFS.[2]

ME/CFS is being investigated to determine if it is caused by Autoimmunity in some patients.

Notable studies[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

Learn more[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 British Society for Immunology (March 2016). "Autoimmunity" (PDF). Retrieved July 12, 2019.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Sotzny, Franziska; Blanco, Julià; Capelli, Enrica; Castro-Marrero, Jesús; Steiner, Sophie; Murovska, Modra; Scheibenbogen, Carmen (2018), "Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – Evidence for an autoimmune disease", Autoimmunity Reviews, 17 (6): 601-609, doi:10.1016/j.autrev.2018.01.009