About Autoimmune Disease

How to evaluate pre-clinical research, clinical trial phases, study results, and key questions to ask with expert insights from Monica Wang and Sylvia Baedorf Kassis.

Many diseases affect the immune system without being classified as autoimmune. Experts explain why conditions like fibromyalgia, endometriosis, POTS, and Lyme disease remain difficult to categorize.

Cancer and autoimmune disease sit at opposite ends of the immune spectrum. Yet treating one condition can sometimes increase the risk of the other. This article explores the shared immune pathways behind both diseases and the delicate balance clinicians must navigate when making treatment decisions.

How are autoimmune disease and cancer connected? Learn how immune balance, inflammation, and immune dysfunction shape disease across the immune spectrum.

Autoimmune disease can take years to develop, moving from silent immune misfires to full clinical symptoms. Researchers are discovering that before a diagnosis is ever made, the immune system may already be producing autoantibodies and mounting inflammatory responses against the body’s own tissues. Understanding these early “stages” of disease could facilitate prevention and earlier intervention.

To explore what happens as autoimmunity takes shape, this article features insight from Jane Buckner, MD, President of the Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, and Michael Rosenblum, MD, PhD, Professor of Dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, both of whom study the immune mechanisms that drive disease onset and regulation.

While autoimmune disease is often associated with young or middle-aged adults, it can emerge for the first time later in life. Evidence suggests that diagnoses among older adults are increasing, raising new questions about how immune aging, hormonal changes, and environmental exposures shape disease risk.

What happens to the immune system during aging that could lead to an increase in autoimmune disease risk? To take a deeper look, we spoke with two experts on aging and autoimmunity: Paul Robbins, co-director of the Masonic Institute on the Biology of Aging and Metabolism at the University of Minnesota, and Niharika Duggal, assistant professor at the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham.

When infection sparks autoimmunity, the brain can change. Learn how PANDAS and PANS trigger sudden behavioral shifts in children.

Fatigue, forgetfulness, and mental haze can all point to one culprit: immune dysfunction disrupting the brain’s clarity and focus.