Submitted by Outside_Teacher_8532 t3_zp43oa in askscience
Outside_Teacher_8532 OP t1_j1b0uld wrote
Reply to comment by 123frogman246 in Can the immune system target specific elements inside the cell? by Outside_Teacher_8532
But let’s say you had an immune disease against your mitochondria; wouldn’t that make every cell in the body a target?
123frogman246 t1_j1cicec wrote
Potentially, yes. But mitochondria have been part of human cells for a long time (assuming they were originally a helpful bacteria), so the immune system shouldn't see them as foreign. I've done a very quick bit of searching and couldn't find much on mitochondrial autoimmunity but maybe someone else has a bit more time to do an in-depth search.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments