title: The role of innate immunity in autoimmune tissue injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To discriminate the pathomechanims of autoimmunity from that of autoimmune tissue injury, for example, in systemic lupus erythematosus, with a special focus on the role of innate pathogen recognition receptors in lupus nephritis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Toll-like receptors mediate immune activation upon the recognition of pathogens in different extracellular and intracellular compartments. Systemic lupus erythematosus appears to be one of the conditions in which self-nucleic acid formats can activate innate viral nucleic acid recognition receptors like TLR-7 or TLR-9. This process can modulate the tolerance mechanisms by activating antigen-presenting cells in lymphoid organs. This mechanism does also occur at the tissue level in tissue macrophages, dendritic cells, B cells and nonimmune cells. For example, nonimmune renal cells express a limited set of functional Toll-like receptors that trigger local cytokine and chemokine release in lupus nephritis upon Toll-like receptor activation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In systemic lupus erythematosus, autoantibodies and expansion of autoreactive T cells indicate systemic autoimmunity, but organ damage involves additional mechanisms of inflammation and tissue remodelling. Targeting local release of proinflammatory cytokines, for example, by blocking Toll-like receptors or single cytokines, may enhance treatment efficacy in autoimmunity without increasing systemic immunosuppression.
authors.affiliation: Medical Policlinic, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Ramanjaneyulu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Allam
authors.forename: Hans-Joachim
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Anders
mesh_terms: D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D015551:Autoimmunity / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000276:immunology*; D008181:Lupus Nephritis / Q000276:immunology*; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors