August is Auto-inflammatory Diseases Awareness Month. Jurgita Sabaliauskienė, a rheumatologist specializing in rare and complex connective tissue diseases at Kaunas Clinics, talks about the peculiarities, origin, and main differences of these diseases from autoimmune conditions.
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What are auto-inflammatory diseases and how do they differ from autoimmune diseases?
Auto-inflammatory diseases are disorders caused by an improperly activated innate immune system. Normally, this system is the first to react to infections or tissue damage, but in auto-inflammatory diseases, inflammation arises without a clear cause. In such cases, it does not perform a protective function but can damage tissues and organs.
The main difference between auto-inflammatory and autoimmune diseases lies in the different mechanisms of the immune system. In autoimmune diseases, the immune system mistakenly recognizes the body’s own tissues or organs as foreign and attacks them. Meanwhile, in auto-inflammatory diseases, the inflammatory reaction activates spontaneously – as if the body were defending itself against a danger that does not actually exist.
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Nevertheless, there is no strict boundary between auto-inflammation and autoimmunity. The innate and adaptive immune systems interact closely, so in certain cases, a patient may exhibit signs of both conditions.
What symptoms should prompt a visit to a doctor for a possible auto-inflammatory disease?
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