The 1st International Workshop in the Molecular and Cell Biology of Autoan tibodies and Autoimmunity is convened at a time when recombinant DNA tech niques have yielded the first set of data providing initial glimpses of epitopes recognized by autoantibodies. It's aim is to bring together cell and molecular biologists with clinical scien tists to discuss the broad spectrum of questions concerning the relationship be tween clinical symptoms and the specificity of autoantibodies. The response to the call for abstracts was overwhelming: Nearly one hundred abstracts were received from many laboratories throughout the world. The topics covered by them are representative of the current research efforts going on to study cause and effect of autoimmune diseases. One of the aims of this workshop is to bring the rapid advances in the elucidation of the molecular structure of auto antigens to the attention of immunologists, cell biologists and clinical scien tists and also to make molecular biologists bei6ple aware of the difficulties lying ahead in trying to understand the cellular and molecular basis of rheumatic dis eases. The organisers wish to thank NIH, BMFT and the Japanese Educational Foundation for financial support, the Heidelberg Academy for the Humanities and Sciences for hosting the workshop, Springer Verlag for their generous cooperation in including late abstracts in this volume, and, last not least, Ms. Simone KRAMBS for untiring secretarial help.