The emergence of autoimmunity after vaccination has been described in many case reports and series. Everyday there is more evidence that this relationship is more than casual.
In humans, adjuvants can induce non-specific constitutional, musculoskeletal or neurological clinical manifestations and in certain cases can lead to the appearance or acceleration of an autoimmune disease in a subject with genetic susceptibility.
The fact that vaccines and adjuvants can trigger a pathogenic autoimmune response is corroborated by animal models.
In some cases, adjuvants may trigger generalized autoimmune response, resulting in multiple auto-antibodies, but sometimes they can reproduce human autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjogren syndrome, autoimmune thyroiditis and antiphospholipid syndrome and may provide insights about the potential adverse effects of adjuvants.