AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does autoimmune disease mean? 

• AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE (noun)
  The noun AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE has 1 sense:

1. any of a large group of diseases characterized by abnormal functioning of the immune system that causes your immune system to produce antibodies against your own tissues

  Familiarity information: AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of a large group of diseases characterized by abnormal functioning of the immune system that causes your immune system to produce antibodies against your own tissues

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

autoimmune disease; autoimmune disorder

Hypernyms ("autoimmune disease" is a kind of...):

disease (an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning)

Meronyms (parts of "autoimmune disease"):

autoimmunity (production of antibodies against the tissues of your own body; produces autoimmune disease or hypersensitivity reactions)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "autoimmune disease"):

myasthenia; myasthenia gravis (a chronic progressive disease characterized by chronic fatigue and muscular weakness (especially in the face and neck); caused by a deficiency of acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junctions)

disseminated multiple sclerosis; disseminated sclerosis; MS; multiple sclerosis (a chronic progressive nervous disorder involving loss of myelin sheath around certain nerve fibers)

autoimmune diabetes; growth-onset diabetes; IDDM; insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus; juvenile-onset diabetes; juvenile diabetes; ketoacidosis-prone diabetes; ketosis-prone diabetes; type I diabetes (severe diabetes mellitus with an early onset; characterized by polyuria and excessive thirst and increased appetite and weight loss and episodic ketoacidosis; diet and insulin injections are required to control the disease)

exophthalmic goiter; Graves' disease (exophthalmos occurring in association with goiter; hyperthyroidism with protrusion of the eyeballs)

atrophic arthritis; rheumatism; rheumatoid arthritis (a chronic autoimmune disease with inflammation of the joints and marked deformities; something (possibly a virus) triggers an attack on the synovium by the immune system, which releases cytokines that stimulate an inflammatory reaction that can lead to the destruction of all components of the joint)

ankylosing spondylitis; Marie-Strumpell disease; rheumatoid spondylitis (a chronic form of spondylitis primarily in males and marked by impaired mobility of the spine; sometimes leads to ankylosis)

discoid lupus erythematosus; DLE (a chronic skin disease occurring primarily in women between the ages of 20 and 40; characterized by an eruption of red lesions over the cheeks and bridge of the nose)

Hashimoto's disease (autoimmune disorder of the thyroid gland; most common in middle-aged women)

LE; lupus erythematosus (a chronic inflammatory collagen disease affecting connective tissue (skin or joints))

pemphigus (a skin disease characterized by large thin-walled blisters (bullae) arising from normal skin or mucous membrane)

dermatosclerosis; scleroderma (an autoimmune disease that affects the blood vessels and connective tissue; fibrous connective tissue is deposited in the skin)

idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura; purpura hemorrhagica; thrombocytopenic purpura; Werlhof's disease (purpura associated with a reduction in circulating blood platelets which can result from a variety of factors)

 Context examples 

Conversely, epitope spreading is the primary immunopathogenic event in autoimmune diseases.

(Epitope Spreading, NCI Thesaurus)

The gene is associated with an autoimmune disease, Felty's syndrome.

(EEF1A1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

People with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases are particularly likely to develop fibromyalgia.

(Fibromyalgia, NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

Mutation of the gene is associated with autoimmune disease type 1.

(FOXD3 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Secondary manifestation of HLH is usually seen in hyperactivated immunologic states such as infection, autoimmune disease or malignancy.

(Hemophagocytic Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Variant alleles generated from mutations in the gene, have been associated with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, Graves disease, Hashimoto thyroiditis, celiac disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, thyroid-associated orbitopathy, and other autoimmune diseases.

(CTLA4 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

The medical field that deals with immune diseases, including autoimmune diseases, allergies, rejection of organ transplants and immune deficiency.

(Clinical Immunology, NCI Thesaurus)

It’s believed to be an autoimmune disease, in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the myelin sheaths that insulate nerves.

(Vitamin D Levels Predict Multiple Sclerosis Progression, NIH)

It affects females more often than males and it may be a manifestation of autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren syndrome.

(Benign Lymphoepithelial Lesion of the Salivary Gland, NCI Thesaurus)

This protein is involved in autoimmune diseases.

(Cerebellar-Degeneration-Related Antigen 1, NCI Thesaurus)