autoimmune

The state conferred by autoimmunity.

• a. disease — a disease state characterized by a specific antibody or cell-mediated immune response against the body's own tissues (autoantigens).
— The immunological mechanism of the body is dependent on two major factors: (1) the inactivation and rejection of foreign substances and (2) the ability to differentiate between the body's own antigens (‘self’) and foreign (‘nonself’). It is not yet known exactly what causes the body to fail to recognize proteins as its own and to react to them as if they were foreign. Autoimmune reactions are rare in large animal diseases. thrombocytopenia, milk allergy and spermatic granuloma are known examples. In dogs and cats there are a number of autoimmune diseases recognized and they occur with some frequency. These include autoimmune hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, glomerulonephritis, lymphocytic thyroiditis and a variety of dermatological disorders in the pemphigus group of diseases.
• a. reaction — includes, most importantly, the acute syndromes of anaphylaxia and pulmonary and cutaneous diseases.