utoimmunity is the downstream outcome of a rather extensive and coordinated series of events that include loss of self-tolerance, peripheral lymphocyte Aactivation, disruption of the blood-systems barriers, cellular infiltration into the target organs and local inflammation. Cytokines, adhesion molecules, growth factors, antibodies, and other molecules induce and regulate critical cell functions that perpetuate inflammation, leading to tissue injury and clinical phenotype. The nature and intensity of this response as well as the physiological ability to restore homeostasis are to a large...

utoimmunity is the downstream outcome of a rather extensive and coordinated series of events that include loss of self-tolerance, peripheral lymphocyte Aactivation, disruption of the blood-systems barriers, cellular infiltration into the target organs and local inflammation. Cytokines, adhesion molecules, growth factors, antibodies, and other molecules induce and regulate critical cell functions that perpetuate inflammation, leading to tissue injury and clinical phenotype. The nature and intensity of this response as well as the physiological ability to restore homeostasis are to a large...