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autoimmune diseases

Illnesses that occur when a person's body tissues are attacked by its own immune system. The immune system is designed to find and destroy foreign invaders of the body. Patients with autoimmune diseases have unusual antibodies in their blood that target their own body tissues.

autosomal dominant

A mode of inheritance when an affected individual must possess one copy of a non-working gene and one copy of a normal gene. Males and females have an equally likely chance of inheriting the mutated gene and of being affected. The recurrance risk of each child of an affected parent is 50%.

autosomal recessive

A mode of inheritance where an affected individual must possess two copies of a non-working gene, one from each parent. Without both copies, the person will not be affected with the disease. What this means is that most children with these types of diseases will have unaffected parents. Males and females are equally likely to be affected. The recurrence risk of each child of an affected parent is 25%.

autosomal recessive pattern

The disease is passed on to a child by both parents who have an abnormal gene when the child is conceived.