Autoimmune disease represents a group of more than 60 different chronic autoimmune diseases that affect approximately 6% of the population. It is the third major category of illness in the United States and many industrialized countries, following heart disease and cancer. Autoimmune diseases arise when one’s immune system actively targets and destroys self tissue resulting in clinical disease. Common examples include Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, Type 1 Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis. While different in clinical features and may involve different organs, the underlying mechanism is the failure of immune tolerance of the adaptive immune system
