Rheumatoid arthritis, relapsing polychondritis, and pyoderma gangrenosum evolving into non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

In human beings, the function of the immune system and of inflammation is to protect the individual against invading organisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi as well as thermal and mechanical injuries. The inflammatory process, initiated to destroy foreign organisms or an inappropriate immune response/target tissue, may lead to injury, the destruction of host tissue, and the development of the disease process. This article describes the history of a patient with four disorders of unknown cause, all of which may have evolved from one immunologic aberration.