Rather than signifying an immune system gone haywire, pioneering research reveals that autoantibodies are a biological prerequisite, and that natural autoimmunity is the master orchestrator of physiological homeostasis When examining a lab report for autoantibodies, why is there a normal reference range? Classical immunology, adhering to the principle of “Horror autotoxicus,” argues that any level of antibody against self represents loss of self-tolerance and compromised immunoregulatory mechanisms. Although clonal deletion and anergy have previously been conceived as processes by which self-tolerance develops, these concepts fail to explain the prevalence of natural autoimmunity among healthy individuals (1). Novel research is elucidating that autoimmunity is a natural, common phenomenon, and that autoimmune disease occurs as a secondary response to tissue or organ injury. Revisioning the Role of the Immune System: From Armed Forces to Housekeeper of Homeodynamics Because immunology was born as an offshoot of applied microbiology, the foundational thinking of the microbiological discipline, …