As early as a century ago, infectious diseases were considered the main threat to human health, but, as vaccinology developed, creating antibiotic therapy and improving medical practices, it became obvious that threats do not always come from outside but often lie in the human organism itself. In recent decades, immunological research has shown the extremely complex functional organization of the immune system and the diversity of cases when it starts working not to protect but to harm the organism, causing serious autoimmune diseases. One of such diseases is rheumatoid arthritis, and Academician E.L. Nasonov’s paper, heard at an RAS Presidium meeting, was dedicated to the research and development of various methods of its treatment. The readers are offered the text of this paper and its discussion materials in brief.