The role of mast cells in allergy and autoimmunity.

Two potential outcomes of dysregulated immunity are allergy and autoimmunity. Both are characterized by localized inflammation that leads to the injury and/or destruction of target tissues. Until recently, it was generally accepted that the mechanisms that govern these disease processes are quite disparate; however, new discoveries suggest that the mast cell may underlie much of the pathology in both these disease syndromes.