Hyperimmune and Autoimmune Diseases
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-009-5582-0_9
Immunologic responses to exogenous or autologous substances sometimes initiate chemical mediator and effector cell responses that go beyond protection of the host from the antigen to injury of the host. Diseases which can be attributed to immunopathologic injury are termed “allergic, immunological, hyperimmune,” or “autoimmune” when autologous antigens initiate the immune response. Two decades ago Coombs and Gell (1962) conveniently classified these disorders by the nature of the immunologic component to include anaphylactic or immediate hypersensitivity reactions (type I), tissue or cell lytic reactions (type II), immune complex reactions (type III), and reactions mediated by specifically sensitized lymphocytes (type IV); (see also chapter 1). Although knowledge of the nature of antigens, antibodies, and the dynamics of cellular and molecular interactions that account for the immunologic-inflammatory response has greatly expanded in the intervening years, the Gell and Coombs classification remains a useful reference point. For the purpose of this review antibody dependent and independent lymphocytotoxic reactions are included in type IV.