Organ specific autoantigens and the autoreactiveT cell repertoire: the case of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein

Eur J Immunol. 2006 Mar;36(3):512-5. doi: 10.1002/eji.200635914.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Comment
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Autoantigens / genetics
  • Autoantigens / immunology*
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • Central Nervous System / immunology
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / genetics
  • Encephalomyelitis, Autoimmune, Experimental / immunology*
  • Immune Tolerance / genetics
  • Immune Tolerance / immunology
  • Inflammation / genetics
  • Inflammation / immunology
  • Lymph Nodes / immunology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Multiple Sclerosis / genetics
  • Multiple Sclerosis / immunology*
  • Myelin Proteins
  • Myelin-Associated Glycoprotein / genetics
  • Myelin-Associated Glycoprotein / immunology*
  • Myelin-Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / immunology*
  • Species Specificity
  • Thymus Gland / immunology

Substances

  • Autoantigens
  • MOG protein, human
  • Mog protein, mouse
  • Myelin Proteins
  • Myelin-Associated Glycoprotein
  • Myelin-Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta