Could autoimmunity be induced by vaccination?
Autoimmune reactions to vaccinations may rarely be induced in predisposed individuals by molecular mimicry or bystander activation mechanisms. Autoimmune reactions reliably considered vaccine-associated, include Guillain-Barré syndrome after 1976 swine influenza vaccine, immune thrombocytopenic purpura after measles/mumps/rubella vaccine, and myopericarditis after smallpox vaccination, whereas the suspected association between hepatitis B vaccine and multiple sclerosis has not been further confirmed, even though it has been recently reconsidered, and the one between childhood immunization and type 1 diabetes seems by now to be definitively gone down. Larger epidemiological studies are needed to obtain more reliable data in most suggested associations.
Azienda Ospedaliera S. Andrea, Rome, Italy.
Simonetta
S
Salemi
Raffaele
R
D'Amelio
D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000187:drug effects; D024201:Bystander Effect / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D003140:Communicable Disease Control; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D006801:Humans; D018716:Molecular Mimicry / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D012307:Risk Factors; D014611:Vaccination; D014612:Vaccines / Q000009:adverse effects*
D014612:Vaccines