ABSTRACT
Immune-mediated disease arises following primary dysfunction of the immune system in the absence of a recognized underlying disease state. In contrast, immune-mediated pathology occurs commonly as part of the pathogenesis of many chronic inflammatory, infectious or neoplastic diseases, but the immunological dysfunction is readily identified as secondary to the underlying disorder. For example, immune complex formation is a feature of some primary immune-mediated (autoimmune) diseases such as SLE, but it also occurs in infectious (e.g. FeLV, canine leishmaniosis) or neoplastic (e.g. canine mammary tumours) disease.
