The Army and Police
Protecting My Body

Our body's immune system plays the role of protecting and defending our body. If we compare a person's body to a country, the immune system can be described as an organization like an army that prevents and defends against foreign invasions, or police that maintain the country's security and order.

Cases where enemies cross the border to invade are like bacterial or viral infections, and our body's immune system acts as an army fighting against the viruses or bacteria that have invaded from the outside.

Also, just as criminals who break the law appear within a country, cells that need to be removed—such as cells that have divided incorrectly or damaged cells—can occur inside our body, and the immune system acts like the police catching criminals in these instances.

An autoimmune disease is a condition where, due to a problem in the function of the immune system that acts like an army or police, it recognizes its own normal cells, tissues, or organs as enemies and attacks them.

In short, an autoimmune disease is a condition where a problem occurs in the self/non-self recognition function—the most important function the immune system should have, which is the ability to distinguish between its own normal cells, abnormal cells, or external infections—causing it to attack without distinguishing between self and non-self, resulting in inflammation.

It is most appropriate to think of it as a malfunction of the immune system.