[Autoimmunization: new facts, controversial questions and study prospects]

At present autoimmunization is viewed as a complex of immune responses to unchanged autoantigens, bearing in mind that autoimmune processes can be "physiologic" ("sanitary" and "regulatory") and pathologic, underlying autoimmune diseases and illnesses associated with secondary autoimmune disorders. The "physiologic" autoimmune processes may be an element of the regulatory mechanisms of homeostasis. The pathologic autoimmune processes develop on the basis of the physiologic ones in the presence of immune disorders in the form of varying defects of the suppressor mechanisms of the immune system. Among the mechanisms of autoimmunization, predisposing, initiating and contributory factors may be distinguished. Of paramount importance is thymic dysfunction whose character has not been completely disclosed. The alterations in the lymphoid organs and tissues (target organs) hypersensitivity reactions (with the exception of reagin ones) form the morphological substrate of autoimmune diseases. Distribution of autoimmune diseases into organ-specific and non-organ-specific can be accepted as the working classification.