Genetic factors of autoimmune diseases

Autoimmune diseases have quite different clinical aspects, develop due to organism loss of tolerance to self antigens and can be characterized by sustained activation of immune cells, that causes damages in tissues and organs. In the world there is about 5-7 % of the world population suffer from one or another type of autoimmune disease. The most common are: Type I diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, Graves' disease, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, etc.

Genetic factors are extremely important in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Alterations, single nucleotide polymorphisms, deletions and other mutations can lead to disruption in functioning of the immune system units. At the same time, it is important that the phenotype of these genetic alterations are different in different ethnic groups, that make it necessary to search for new markers of susceptibility to autoimmune diseases in specific populations.