title: The role of heat shock protein, microbial and autoimmune agents in the aetiology of Behçet's disease.
abstract: Investigation of the aetiology of Behçet's disease (BD) has focused predominantly on herpes simplex virus immunopathology, autoimmunity to oral mucosa or cross-reactive microbial antigens, and streptococcal infection. These aetiological factors might have a common denominator in microbial heat shock protein (HSP) which shows significant homology with the human mitochondrial HSP. Indeed, the uncommon serotypes of Streptococcus sanguis found in BD cross-react with the 65 kD HSP which also shares antigenicity with an oral mucosal antigen. T cell epitope mapping has identified 4 peptides derived from the sequence of the 65 kD HSP which stimulate specifically TCR gamma delta + lymphocytes from patients with BD. These peptides (111-125, 154-172, 219-233 and 311-325) show significant homology with the corresponding peptides derived from the human 60 kD HSP. The specific proliferative response of TCR gamma delta + lymphocytes elicited by the 4 peptides can be used as a laboratory test for the diagnosis of BD. The pathogenic significance of these peptides has been established by inducing uveitis in rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, United Medical School of Guy's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lehner
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015551:Autoimmunity; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology; D003429:Cross Reactions; D018604:Epitope Mapping; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000633:toxicity; D006801:Humans; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D051381:Rats; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000472:pathogenicity; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity; D014605:Uveitis / Q000209:etiology
chemical_list: D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins