Slipping through the Cracks: Linking Low Immune Function and Intestinal Bacterial Imbalance to the Etiology of Rheumatoid Arthritis

Autoimmune diseases (ADs) are considered to be caused by the host immune system which attacks and destroys its own tissue by mistake. A widely accepted hypothesis to explain the pathogenic mechanism of ADs is “molecular mimicry,” which states that antibodies against an infectious agent cross-react w...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kuniaki Terato, Christopher T. Do, Hiroshi Shionoya
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2015-01-01
Series:Autoimmune Diseases
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/636207