[Tolerance and autoimmunity. Novel therapeutic approaches]

The main function of the immune system is to protect the individual against potentially dangerous pathogens. It comprises innate and adaptive cellular and soluble components, both with the capacity to discriminate between harmful and harmless. These processes are regulated by homeostatic mechanisms that constitute the so-called immunological tolerance, which aims to limit the prolonged action of immune mediators and to silence the generation of potentially autoaggressive components. Failure to silence self-reactive T and B cells results in the generation of autoimmune disease. Recent advances in our knowledge of these pathological entities have opened a new chapter in the pharmacology of the immune system. Its promising potential currently offers new therapeutic agents to control and attenuate pathological tissue damage. Nevertheless, further research regarding these biologic agents is required, since they are not free from inconveniences. It is without question that upcoming findings in this field will instill hope into the quest for the "magic bullet".