title: Natural autoantibodies might prevent autoimmune disease.
abstract: Autoantibodies are common in healthy individuals and appear not to be harmful. It is not clear how they arise nor what their function is. Here Irun Cohen and Anne Cooke propose that these natural autoantibodies bind to self or self-mimicking epitopes and so prevent the initiation of a damaging auto immune response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, PO Box 26, Rehovot, 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: I R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, The Middlesex Hospital, London, W1 P 9PG, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooke