TY - JOUR AU - Fairweather, DeLisa AU - Rose, Noel R. T1 - Women and Autoimmune Diseases T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2004 VL - 10 IS - 11 SP - 2005 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Autoimmune diseases affect approximately 8% of the population, 78% of whom are women. The reasons for the high prevalence in women are unknown, but circumstantial evidence links autoimmune diseases with preceding infections. Animal models of autoimmune diseases have shown that infections can induce autoimmune disease. For example, coxsackievirus B3 (CB3) infection of susceptible mice results in inflammation of the heart (myocarditis) that resembles myocarditis in humans. The same disease can be induced by injecting mice with heart proteins mixed with adjuvant(s), which indicates that an active infection is not necessary for the development of autoimmune disease. We have found that CB3 triggers autoimmune disease in susceptible mice by stimulating elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines from mast cells during the innate immune response. Sex hormones may further amplify this hyperimmune response to infection in susceptible persons, which leads to an increased prevalence of autoimmune diseases in women. KW - autoimmunity KW - myocarditis KW - cytokines KW - innate immunity KW - virus hormones KW - conference report DO - 10.3201/eid1011.040367 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/10/11/04-0367_article ER - End of Reference