The role of the innate immune response in autoimmune disease

Autoimmune diseases are the clinical correlate of a dysregulation of the immune system, involving multiple steps and multiple components of both the innate and the adaptive immune system. Innate immune cells are sensitive to a very limited repertoire of foreign “patterns” that bind to selective “pattern recognition receptors”. In contrast, adaptive auto-reactive T or B cells bear receptors specific for antigens including “self” antigens and are rendered non-reactive by several “quality control” mechanisms. Under special conditions, activation of cells of the innate immune system can break the state of inactivity of auto-reactive cells of the adaptive immune system, thereby provoking autoimmune disease. Here we review examples to illustrate how innate immune activation influences autoimmune disease and point to the implications for the treatment of human autoimmune disease.