Systemic mastocytosis is a rare autoimmune disorder
which affects the whole body. It is caused by the invasion of a type of immune system cell
(the mast cell
) into tissues which it normally shouldn't go; this would produce autoimmune
problems and symptoms such as inflammation
. Mast cells, which are normally found in connective tissue
s, produce histamine
From the BioTech Dictionary at http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/. For further information see the BioTech homenode.