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Autoimmune diseases arise from an abnormal immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body (autoimmunity). This may be restricted to certain organs (e.g. in autoimmune thyroiditis) or involve a particular tissue in different places (e.g. Goodpasture's disease which may affect the basement membrane in both the lung and the kidney). The treatment of autoimmune diseases is typically with immunosuppression—medication that decreases the immune response. A large number of autoimmune diseases are recognized. A major understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases has been the application of genome wide association scans that have identified a striking degree of genetic sharing among the autoimmune diseases. ==Definition== For a disease to be regarded as an autoimmune disease it needs to answer to ''Witebsky's postulates'' (first formulated by Ernst Witebsky and colleagues in 1957 and modified in 1994): * Direct evidence from transfer of disease-causing antibody or disease-causing T lymphocyte white blood cells * Indirect evidence based on reproduction of the autoimmune disease in experimental animals * Circumstantial evidence from clinical clues * Genetic evidence suggesting "clustering" with other autoimmune diseases 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Autoimmune disease」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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