title: Carbohydrate mimicry: a new paradigm of autoimmune diseases.
abstract: Molecular mimicry of microbial components by self components is thought to be the mechanism that accounts for the antigen and tissue specificity of immune responses in post-infectious autoimmune diseases. Little direct evidence exists, and research in this area has focused principally on T cell mediated anti-peptide responses, rather than on humoral responses to carbohydrate structures. Guillain-Barré syndrome, the most frequent cause of acute neuromuscular paralysis, sometimes occurs after Campylobacter jejuni enteritis. Recent studies have revealed that carbohydrate mimicry of the bacterial lipo-oligosaccharide by the human ganglioside is an important cause of the syndrome. This new concept that carbohydrate mimicry can cause an autoimmune disease provides a clue to inducing the resolution of pathogenesis of other immune-mediated diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Dokkyo University School of Medicine, Kitakobayashi 880, Mibu, Shimotsuga, Tochigi 321-0293, Japan. yuki@dokkyomed.ac.jp
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yuki
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D002169:Campylobacter Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology; D016123:Campylobacter jejuni / Q000235:genetics; D005732:Gangliosides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D020275:Guillain-Barre Syndrome / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry; D018448:Models, Immunological; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011817:Rabbits
chemical_list: D001324:Autoantigens; D005732:Gangliosides; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; C023023:lipid-linked oligosaccharides