Immunological diseases, with the morbidity keeping increased, have become a major threat to human mental and physical health. However, the pathogenesis of these diseases is extremely complicated and remains unclear. Recent advances in biology have introduced new technologies to study the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the development of immunotherapy of immunological diseases. This sp...

Mast cells play an important role in both adaptive and innate immunity, and a large body of literature demonstrates their functions in skin immunity. This article reviews the literature on the role of this cell type in the pathogenesis of a number of immunological skin diseases, including contact dermatitis, atopic dermatitis, immunobullous disease, scleroderma, and chronic graft-vs.-host disea...

By fractionation of human liver tissue, nuclear, mitochondrial, and connective tissue antigens were prepared. According to the results of serological tests, in conditions associated with substantial damage to the hepatic parenchyma, antibodies reacting with the nuclear and mitochondrial antigens are produced that show practically no reaction with the connective tissue antigen. It is advisable t...

August 2006 | Volume 3 | Issue 8 | e297 A century ago Paul Ehrlich proposed that immune reactivity against self, which he called “horror autotoxicus” and which is now called autoimmunity, would be incompatible with life because of potentially devastating consequences for the host. But Ehrlich was proven wrong after the demonstration of autoantibodies and the emergence of a theoretical basis for...

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are inflammatory diseases with a multifactorial component that involve the intestinal tract. The two relevant IBD syndromes are Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). One factor involved in IBD development is a genetic predisposition, associated to NOD2/CARD15 and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) polymorphisms that might favor infectious enterocolitis tha...