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K. Conrad, E. K. L. Chan, M. J. Fritzler, R.L. Humbel, P. von
Landenberg, Y. Shoenfeld (Eds.) |
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In the spectrum of immunological diseases affecting various organs by
inflammation and/or fibrosis, autoimmune reactions play an important
role. Based on different studies both in humans as well as in animal
models it becomes obvious that there is a broad range of pathologies
that involve not only „primary“ autoimmune reactions but also other
pathogenic mechanisms such as postinfectious and autoinflammatory
processes. The heterogeneity within the immunological diseases may
reflect the variable expression of autoinflammatory, autoimmune, and up
to now unknown factors in disease development and manifestation. Based
on histological and immunohistochemical examinations, IgG4-related
sclerosing disease has been proposed as a novel clinicopathological
entity with autoimmune phenomena but unknown etiology (chapter 1). The
clarification of the etiopathological mechanisms is required to optimize
prophylaxis, diagnostics and therapy. Especially, the application of
novel and designer biological therapies (chapter 8) requires a better
understanding of the processes that are involved in the genesis of
immunological diseases. In chapter 2, some aspects of the role of
epigenetic mechanisms and innate immunity in the pathogenesis of
autoimmune diseases are described. Regardless of the underlying
pathology, disease-associated autoantibodies are important biomarkers
for the vast majority of non-organ and organ specific autoimmune
diseases. However, to improve our understanding of these diseases and
serological diagnostics it is necessary to search for novel
autoantibodies, to further evaluate the real clinical relevance of known
autoantibodies and to further develop and standardize the detection
methods (chapters 3-5). Pathogenetic aspects as well as aspects of the
serological diagnostics, including novel autoantibody specificities,
novel methodologies and evaluation studies are presented for rheumatoid
arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome,
systemic vasculitides, systemic sclerosis (chapter 6) and various organ
specific diseases (chapter 7). In summary, the present volume highlights
novel insights into the immune dysregulation, pathogenesis, serological
diagnostics and biological therapies of autoimmune diseases.
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