Autoantibodies against small cytoplasmic ribonucleoproteins: the anti-Ro/SS-A and anti-La/SS-B autoimmune response. A review of autoantibody detection, autoantigen composition, autoantibody-disease associations and possible etiologic mechanisms.

Abstract

In summary, there have been several trends in the field of autoimmunity research. We are currently exploiting molecular biological techniques to study autoantibodies and autoreactive T- and B-cells in the smallest detail. It seems inevitable that sometime in the near future these data will all be put together, combined with our knowledge of the “human models” of autoimmunity (the diseases themselves) and result in a balanced model explaining the different autoimmune disorders. As a consequence of the lack of such a unifying model for autoimmunity, major breakthroughs in immunotherapy, although often claimed [101], are unlikely, and clinicians treating patients with these autoimmune diseases have to content themselves with small and sometimes unexplained improvements in therapeutic possibilities.