â¢ AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE (noun). The noun AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE has 1 sense: 1. any of a large group of diseases characterized by abnormal functioning of the immune system that causes your immune system to produce antibodies against your own tissues.
The initiation of cell transformation is generally associated with genetic alterations in normal cells that lead to the loss of intercellular-and/or extracellular-matrix- (ECM-) mediated cell adhesion.ancer afflicts an organ or a tissue by inducing abnormal and uncontrolled division of cells that either constitute it or migrate to it. At the cellular level, this is caused by genetic alterations in networks that regulate cell division and cell death.
By the same token, any random change in a gene's DNA is likely to result in a protein that does not function normally or may not function at all. Such mutations are likely to be harmful. Harmful mutations may cause genetic disorders or cancer. 1  A genetic disorder is a disease caused by a mutation in one or a few genes. 2  A human example is cystic fibrosis.