Definition of "autoimmune disease" [autoimmune disease]

• Any of a large group of diseases characterized by abnormal functioning of the immune system that causes your immune system to produce antibodies against your own tissues (noun)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "Environmental contaminant trichloroethylene promotes autoimmune disease and inhibits T cell apoptosis in MRL+/+ mice."
• "In a 1990 Pennsylvania study, cases of polymyositis, an autoimmune disease of the muscles, resulting in severe muscle weakness, more than tripled between 1973 and 1982."
• "According to Fairweather, all animal models of autoimmune disease that are not induced by genetic mutations are induced by inoculation of mice with self-peptides like myelin from the myelin sheaths along with adjuvant, or peptides from a bacteria or virus."