TY - JOUR AU - Anaya, Juan-Manuel PY - 2010 DA - 2010/11/09 TI - The autoimmune tautology JO - Arthritis Research & Therapy SP - 147 VL - 12 IS - 6 AB - Although autoimmune diseases exhibit contrasting epidemiological features, pathology, and clinical manifestations, three lines of evidence demonstrate that these diseases share similar immunogenetic mechanisms (that is, autoimmune tautology). First, clinical evidence highlights the co-occurrence of distinct autoimmune diseases within an individual (that is, polyautoimmunity) and within members of a nuclear family (that is, familial autoimmunity). Second, physiopathologic evidence indicates that the pathologic mechanisms may be similar among autoimmune diseases. Lastly, genetic evidence shows that autoimmune phenotypes might represent pleiotropic outcomes of the interaction of non-specific disease genes. SN - 1478-6362 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/ar3175 DO - 10.1186/ar3175 ID - Anaya2010 ER -