title: T cell immunity and primary biliary cirrhosis.
abstract: T lymphocytes play a pivotal role in the autoimmune response in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Recent studies have shown that there is overlapping in the PDC-E2-specific T and B cell epitopes. In addition, helper T and cytotoxic T cell epitopes all contain a shared peptide sequence. In addition, recognition of exogenous antigens including bacterial antigens by autoantigen-specific T cell and the mechanism of molecular mimicry provide a clue to clarifying the pathogenesis of PBC. Furthermore, the findings that autoantigen-immune complexes cross present and also that the presentation of autoantigen is of a higher relative efficiency, define a unique role of autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of the autoimmune disease. The mechanism of immune-mediated bile duct damage in PBC, including the possible role of T cell-mediated cytotoxicity and molecular mimicry is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Center, National Nagasaki Medical Center, Kubara 2-1001-1, Omura, Nagasaki 856-8562, Japan. isibasi@nmc.hosp.go.jp
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishibashi
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimoda
authors.forename: M Eric
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Gershwin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology; D015551:Autoimmunity; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D001652:Bile Ducts / Q000473:pathology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D051047:Dihydrolipoyllysine-Residue Acetyltransferase; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes / Q000737:chemistry; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D018716:Molecular Mimicry / Q000276:immunology; D020556:Neutrophil Infiltration; D011768:Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001323:Autoantibodies; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes; D011768:Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex; D051047:Dihydrolipoyllysine-Residue Acetyltransferase