Smoking and immunity: an additional player in the mosaic of autoimmunity.
Autoimmune diseases are associated with a variety of predisposing factors. However, the relative contribution of each remains to be established. The purpose of the paper is to focus on cigarette smoking, a common Western habit, as a possible environmental factor for the emergence of autoimmunity. This association is described in view of several recent studies documenting increased susceptibility to autoimmune diseases among smokers.
George
J
J
Department of Medicine B, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
Levy
Y
Y
Shoenfeld
Y
Y
D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D012907:Smoking / Q000276:immunology*