ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a general overview of the pathogenesis and the aberrant immune mechanisms in autoimmune diseases, and discusses the relevance of placental cells in the scenario of abnormal immune processes, such as those underlying autoimmune diseases. The observation that genes such as protein tyrosine phosphatase are common to different autoimmune diseases supports the hypothesis that some immunological pathways are common to multiple disorders, whereas other pathophysiological mechanisms are disease-specific. Autoimmune responses and uncontrolled inflammation are implicated in the development of many cardiovascular diseases. Taking into account the beneficial effects observed in preclinical studies after transplantation of placental mesenchymal stem cells in animal models of autoimmune diseases, it is tempting to speculate that to some degree, these effects could be observed in humans. Most autoimmune diseases are multigenic, whereby multiple susceptibility genes work together to produce an abnormal phenotype.
