autoimmune
adjective
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Any healthy body produces a variety of antibodies, proteins in the blood whose job is to protect the body from unwanted bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells. The cells and organs that deal with such infections make up the immune system. In some people and animals, for various reasons, the antibodies become overactive and turn on the body's healthy tissues as well; the result is an autoimmune disease—an immune response directed against one's own self. More than eighty autoimmune diseases have been identified, the best-known being type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Examples of autoimmune in a Sentence
Caroline Tell, Forbes.com, 24 Apr. 2025
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Primary biliary cholangitis is an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system attacks healthy cells in the liver by mistake.
—Korin Miller, Flow Space, 23 Apr. 2025
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack itself, affecting the synovial tissue lining membranes in the joints throughout the body.
—Jennifer Steinhoff, Verywell Health, 22 Apr. 2025
Turns out, her life-long eczema and severe flare-ups was in part due to the autoimmune disease, lupus, which she was diagnosed with in 2023.
—India Espy-Jones, Essence, 21 Apr. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Autoimmune.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autoimmune. Accessed 27 Apr. 2025.
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autoimmune
adjective
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autoimmune
adjective
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