Autoimmunity and Inflammation

Triggers of sterile inflammation include trauma, toxic injury, malignancy, autoinflammation, alloimmunity, and autoimmunity. Among these, autoimmunity is characterized by systemic or organ-specific inflammation of spontaneous onset, although autoimmunity can often be triggered by an episode of infection. This chapter discusses the mechanisms of immune tolerance, genetic and environmental factors that break immune tolerance, and the mechanisms of autoimmune tissue inflammation. Apoptosis has an important role in establishing and maintaining immune tolerance. This is evidenced by the development of systemic autoimmune diseases in mice with naturally occurring mutations of death receptors like Fas or Fas ligand (FasL). The chapter discusses systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) as a paradigmatic example of systemic autoimmunity and tissue injury. It explains the concept of systemic autoimmunity and autoimmune tissue injury along with the example of SLE.