Abstract
The Wassermann antibody was the first "autoantibody" ever described. No one has seriously suggested that it could be responsible for the lesions of syphilis. What, then, is one to think about other "autoantibodies," which are now being described in a great variety of diseases? Some of these, like syphilis, involve tissue destruction that is obviously responsible for stimulating antibody formation. For example, in myocardial infarction and viral hepatitis, "autoantibodies" against heart and liver, respectively, appear days or weeks after the occurrence of the acute process and obviously have no role in its pathogenesis. The situation is not clear, however, when . . .

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