Publication Date:
2002-10-12
Description:
Humans expressing a defective form of the transcription factor AIRE (autoimmune regulator) develop multiorgan autoimmune disease. We used aire- deficient mice to test the hypothesis that this transcription factor regulates autoimmunity by promoting the ectopic expression of peripheral tissue- restricted antigens in medullary epithelial cells of the thymus. This hypothesis proved correct. The mutant animals exhibited a defined profile of autoimmune diseases that depended on the absence of aire in stromal cells of the thymus. Aire-deficient thymic medullary epithelial cells showed a specific reduction in ectopic transcription of genes encoding peripheral antigens. These findings highlight the importance of thymically imposed "central" tolerance in controlling autoimmunity.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Anderson, Mark S -- Venanzi, Emily S -- Klein, Ludger -- Chen, Zhibin -- Berzins, Stuart P -- Turley, Shannon J -- von Boehmer, Harald -- Bronson, Roderick -- Dierich, Andree -- Benoist, Christophe -- Mathis, Diane -- 2 P30 DK36836-16/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- 2T32 DK07260-26/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- KO8-DK59958-01A1/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK60027-01/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- T32CA70083-05/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2002 Nov 15;298(5597):1395-401. Epub 2002 Oct 10.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Section on Immunology and Immunogenetics, Joslin Diabetes Center; Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Harvard Medical School, 1 Joslin Place, Boston, MA 02215, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12376594" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Aging
;
Animals
;
Autoantibodies/analysis/blood
;
Autoantigens/biosynthesis/genetics
;
Autoimmune Diseases/genetics/immunology/metabolism
;
Autoimmunity
;
Epithelial Cells/physiology
;
Female
;
Gene Expression Profiling
;
Gene Expression Regulation
;
Gene Targeting
;
Humans
;
Lymphocytes/immunology
;
Male
;
Mice
;
Mice, Inbred C57BL
;
Mice, Knockout
;
Polyendocrinopathies, Autoimmune/genetics/immunology/metabolism
;
Radiation Chimera
;
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
;
*Self Tolerance
;
Stromal Cells/immunology/metabolism
;
T-Lymphocytes/*immunology
;
Thymus Gland/cytology/*immunology/*metabolism
;
Transcription Factors/genetics/*metabolism
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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