A Brief History and Discovery of Autoimmunity

The concept of the immune system being able to recognise ‘foreign’ chemicals dates back to the early twentieth century. However, it was not generally understood until the early 1950s that an immune response could be generated not just against foreign antigens but also ‘self’ antigens. Macfarlane Burnet is known as the “Father of autoimmunity” since he founded the discipline and developed the clonal selection theory of forbidden clones. Peter Brian Medawar is known as the “Father of transplantation” for developing the concept of immunological tolerance. This article give a brief account of the origin and history of autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases.