Editing Autoimmunity (section)

==History==
In the later 19th century, it was believed that the immune system was unable to react against the body's own tissues. [[Paul Ehrlich]], at the turn of the 20th century, proposed the concept of ''horror autotoxicus''. Ehrlich later adjusted his theory to recognize the possibility of autoimmune tissue attacks, but believed certain innate protection mechanisms would prevent the autoimmune response from becoming pathological.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

In 1904, this theory was challenged by the discovery of a substance in the serum of patients with paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria that reacted with red blood cells. During the following decades, a number of conditions could be linked to autoimmune responses. However, the authoritative status of Ehrlich's postulate hampered the understanding of these findings. Immunology became a biochemical rather than a clinical discipline.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Silverstein AM | chapter = Chapter 2: Autoimmunity: A History of the Early Struggle for Recognition | veditors = Mackay IR, Rose NR | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=PTMTAAAAQBAJ | title = The Autoimmune Diseases | publisher = Academic Press | date = 2013 | isbn = 978-0-12-384930-4 }}</ref> By the 1950s, the modern understanding of autoantibodies and autoimmune diseases started to spread.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ahsan |first=Haseeb |date=March 2023 |title=Origins and history of autoimmunity—A brief review |journal=Rheumatology & Autoimmunity |language=en |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=9–14 |doi=10.1002/rai2.12049 |issn=2767-1410|doi-access=free }}</ref>

More recently, it has become accepted that autoimmune responses are an integral part of vertebrate [[immune system]]s (sometimes termed "natural autoimmunity").<ref name="pmid22884694">{{cite journal | vauthors = Poletaev AB, Churilov LP, Stroev YI, Agapov MM | title = Immunophysiology versus immunopathology: Natural autoimmunity in human health and disease | journal = Pathophysiology | volume = 19 | issue = 3 | pages = 221–231 | date = June 2012 | pmid = 22884694 | doi = 10.1016/j.pathophys.2012.07.003 }}</ref> Autoimmunity should not be confused with [[alloimmunity]].