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Molecular mimicry hypothesis and autoimmunity

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Molecular mimicry hypothesis and autoimmunity is explained with an example of multiple sclerosis.

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Molecular mimicry hypothesis and autoimmunity are assessed.

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The mechanism of molecular mimicry has been postulated to explain the development of autoimmunity. According to molecular mimicry mechanism, the infectious agents or pathogens trigger an immune response against the autoantigens. According to this hypothesis a susceptible host gets infected with a pathogen that has antigens immunologically similar to the host antigens but differ sufficiently to induce an immune response when presented to T cells. Consequently, tolerance to autoantigens breaks down leading to cross-reaction of the pathogen-specific immune response ...

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