title: Interaction between the immune and central nervous systems.
abstract: Much of the understanding of tolerance has focused on the requirements for antigen-specific lymphocyte activation and function. However, there is increasing evidence for anatomic regulation of effector access to self antigens. Recently, a number of studies have provided evidence for tissue-specific "addressins" in chemokine/chemokine receptor pairs. The central nervous system (CNS) provides special anatomic barriers to the movement of cells from the vascular compartment to the parenchyma. Herein I raise the possibility that antigen, perhaps through specialized antigen-presenting cells, may play a role in regulating access of activated lymphocytes into the CNS parenchyma. The results suggest that a reexamination of the widely held dogma that all activated lymphocytes have access to the CNS parenchyma is necessary to understand the relationship between the immune and central nervous systems.
authors.affiliation: Program in Immunology, Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. jrussell@wustl.edu
authors.forename: John H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Russell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017951:Antigen Presentation; D001324:Autoantigens; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000276:immunology; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000276:immunology*; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D015213:Neuroimmunomodulation; D047888:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Type I / Q000276:immunology; D019014:fas Receptor / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001324:Autoantigens; D047888:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Type I; D019014:fas Receptor