This news item is about: To protect the peace you need to know how to identify the enemy or dangerous misunderstandings can arise. Over 50 million Americans suffer from autoimmune diseases and the attacks they spark from the body’s own defenses. Dr. Cynthia Leifer, immunologist at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, studies the checks and balances keeping our immune defenses from spinning out of control. Her latest paper in the August 2011 issue of the European Journal of Immunology adds to a growing map of how these mechanisms can work or fail, illuminating possible pathways for therapies to counter autoimmune disease.