What is hot in autoimmunity

Late 2008 and 2009 have been rich of new developments in our knowledge in the pathogenesis, susceptibility, and putative treatments of autoimmune diseases. In general terms, it is now clear that the discovery pace in immunology in general and autoimmunity in particular is exponential and warrants a timely discussion. We herein review the major issues that have been addressed in the basic, clinical and translational fields of autoimmunity in the leading journals over the past 18 months. Of note, major scientific issues are being addressed with a tremendous effort, as in the case of the T helper 17 paradigm or the role of T regulatory cells or the long overlooked innate arm of the immune system, while an increasing number of translational works are being performed with promising data for a bedside impact. The ultimate implication from the recent literature is that autoimmunity is rapidly becoming a uniform scenario in which similarities significantly outnumber differences in terms of pathogenesis and mechanisms. For this reason a comprehensive yet brief review of the published reports encompassing all aspects of autoimmunity will prove helpful to basic scientist and clinicians alike to prompt new research directions.