Introduction:

The etiology of autoimmune diseases is still unknown, though several causes have been suggested.

Objective:

Describe the role of hormones, eating, stress, infectious diseases and cancer in immune diseases.

Methods:

A bibliographic review was conducted using Google Scholar and open access papers published in the databases Pubmed and SciELO from January 2014 to June 2020. Relevant updated national and international bibliography was consulted, for a total 51 references: three basic books from the specialty of immunology and 48 papers (12 in Spanish and 36 in English). The search terms used were obtained from the descriptors DeCS and MeSH.

Results:

Feminine hormones increase the risk of autoimmune diseases. Imbalance in the neurohormone melatonin may generate autoreactive lymphocytes. Stress may maintain chronic inflammatory responses causing tissue damage. Appropriate eating habits allow gut microbiota commensals to maintain the homeostasis of the immune system. Infections occasionally develop autoimmune responses. Causality between cancer and autoimmunity is bidirectional, due to the presence of inflammatory processes.

Conclusions:

Autoimmune diseases are more common among women. Appropriate eating habits prevent alterations of the gut microbiota, allowing it to maintain immune homeostasis. Stress situations and infections may trigger autoimmune responses. Cancer may foster the development of autoimmune manifestations, and these, due to the inflammatory predominance, may foster tumorigenesis.

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