Organ specific autoantigens and the autoreactiveT cell repertoire: the case of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein.
There is strong evidence that immunological self tolerance critically relies on the elimination of potentially autoaggressive T lymphocyte clones from the emerging immune repertoire during intrathymic T cell differentiation. These 'forbidden' T cells are deleted as a result of a confrontation with their specific self antigen as presented on medullary stroma cells. But this purging mechanism is remarkably leaky, allowing numerous autoreactive T cells to join the healthy immune repertoire. A paper in this issue of the European Journal of Immunology studies the effect of organ-specific autoantigen expression on the cognate T cell repertoire. Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), a putative autoantigen in human multiple sclerosis, is used as a model self antigen. T cell receptor profiles in wild-type mice were compared with those in MOG-knock-out mice. Surprisingly, significant differences were not found suggesting that, in this particular case, autoantigen expression does not affect the autoreactive T cell repertoire.
Wekerle
Hartmut
H
Max-Planck-Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany. hwekerle@neuro.mpg.de
Linington
Christopher
C
D000818:Animals; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000276:immunology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004681:Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D007249:Inflammation / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D009185:Myelin Proteins; D018992:Myelin-Associated Glycoprotein / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D063308:Myelin-Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000276:immunology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology
D001324:Autoantigens; C571326:MOG protein, human; C571327:Mog protein, mouse; D009185:Myelin Proteins; D018992:Myelin-Associated Glycoprotein; D063308:Myelin-Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta