Mycoplasma fermentans glycolipid-antigen as a pathogen of rheumatoid arthritis.
Mycoplasma fermentans has been suspected as one of the causative pathogenic microorganisms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) however, the pathogenic mechanism is still unclear. We, previously, reported that glycolipid-antigens (GGPL-I and III) are the major antigens of M. fermentans. Monoclonal antibody against the GGPL-III could detect the existence of the GGPL-III antigens in synovial tissues from RA patients. GGPL-III antigens were detected in 38.1% (32/84) of RA patient's tissues, but not in osteoarthritis (OA) and normal synovial tissues. Immunoelectron microscopy revealed that a part of GGPL-III antigens are located at endoplasmic reticulum. GGPL-III significantly induced TNF-alpha and IL-6 production from peripheral blood mononulear cells, and also proliferation of synovial fibroblasts. Further study is necessary to prove that M. fermentans is a causative microorganism of RA; however, the new mechanisms of disease pathogenesis provides hope for the development of effective and safe immunotherapeutic strategies based on the lipid-antigen, GGPL-III, in the near future.
Kawahito
Yutaka
Y
Inflammation and Immunology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 465 Kajii-ku, Kawaramachi-Hirokoji Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto 602-0841, Japan.
Ichinose
Sizuko
S
Sano
Hajime
H
Tsubouchi
Yasunori
Y
Kohno
Masataka
M
Yoshikawa
Toshikazu
T
Tokunaga
Daisaku
D
Hojo
Tatsuya
T
Harasawa
Ryo
R
Nakano
Teruaki
T
Matsuda
Kazuhiro
K
D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006017:Glycolipids / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016858:Mycoplasma fermentans / Q000378:metabolism*
C106372:1''-phosphocholine-2''-aminodihydroxypropane-3''-phospho-6'-glucopyranosyl-(1'-3)-1,2-dipalmitoylglycerol; D006017:Glycolipids