PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 6773876

HLA and disease: current concepts.

W C DeWolf·B Dupont·E J Yunis
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The association between HLA and disease has a sound experimental foundation. Currently HLA has been implicated in the natural history of numerous diseases of varied pathogeneses. Efforts nor are being directed toward characterizations of the actual loci involved, but this is proving to be difficult because more than one and probably all the described mechanisms are playing a role. Nonetheless HLA appears to be a unique region for such analysis because it is highly polymorphic, which means that a gene and its linkage group may be traced not only through a family but also through a population and even a geographic region. In addition, the HLA region is a natural focus for the discovery of regulatory genes with one gene facilitating the discovery of the next. The identification of subsets and genetic antigenic polymorphisms expressed on these cells constitutes the best approach to the study of immune regulation and noseology today.

Explore related subjects

AutoantigensGenes, MHC Class IIGenetic Diseases, InbornGenetic LinkageHLA AntigensHumansMajor Histocompatibility ComplexNeural Tube DefectsTeratomaJournal ArticleResearch Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.Review

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

W C DeWolf, B Dupont, E J Yunis. 1980. HLA and disease: current concepts.. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0046-8177(80)80028-1

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2007

The potential for induction of autoimmune disease by a randomly-mutated self-antigen.

The pathology of most autoimmune diseases is well described. However, the exact event that triggers the onset of the inflammatory cascade leading to disease is less certain and most autoimmune diseases are complex idiopathic diseases with no single gene known to be causative. In many cases, a relation to an infectious disease is described, and it is thought that microbes can play a direct role in induction of autoimmunity, for instance by molecular mimicry or bystander activation of autoreactive T cells. In contrast, less attention has been given to the possibility that modified self-antigens can be immunogenic and lead to autoimmunity against wildtype self-antigens. In theory, modified self-antigens can arise by random errors and mutations during protein synthesis and would be recognized as foreign antigens by naïve B and T lymphocytes. Here, it is postulated that the initial auto-antigen is not a germline self-antigen, but rather a mutated self-antigen. This mutated self-antigen might interfere with peripheral tolerance if presented to the immune system during an infection. The infection lead to bystander activation of naïve T and B cells with specificity for mutated self-antigen and this can lead to epitopespreading in which T and B cells with specificity for wildtype self-antigens are activated as a result of general inflammation.

Autoantigens↗
PubMed2007

CD8+ suppressor-mediated regulation of human CD4+ T cell responses to glutamic acid decarboxylase 65.

Although potentially autoreactive T cells are present even in healthy subjects, most individuals do not develop autoimmune disease. It has been well demonstrated that CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells play a significant role in controlling the expansion of autoreactive T cells in the periphery. However, some healthy individuals exhibit measurable responses to self peptide even in the presence of CD4+ CD25+ regulatory cells. This article describes the regulation of human CD4+ T cell responses to glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65), an autoantigen implicated in type-1 diabetes, by autologous CD8+ suppressor T cells. In cells cultured from healthy individuals, the inclusion of autologous CD8+ T cells at physiological levels resulted in a dramatic decrease in the magnitude of in vitro CD4+ T cell responses to GAD65 peptide. Based on transwell experiments, the observed suppression was cell contact-dependent. However, antibody blocking studies indicated that suppression was mediated by IL-10. Cell fractionation studies suggested that CD8+ suppressor T cells originate from the CD45RA+ CD27- population. The suppression of CD4+ T cell responses to GAD65 in healthy individuals raises the possibility that CD8+ suppressor T cells play an important role in controlling potentially autoreactive T cells in the general population.

Autoantigens↗
PubMed2006

Natural history and early diagnosis of LAD-1/variant syndrome.

The syndrome of leukocyte adhesion deficiency (LAD) combined with a severe Glanzmann-type bleeding disorder has been recognized as a separate disease entity. The variability in clinical and cell biological terms has remained largely unclear. We present data on 9 cases from 7 unrelated families, with 3 patients being actively followed for more than 12 years. The disease entity, designated LAD-1/variant syndrome, presents early in life and consists of nonpussing infections from bacterial and fungal origin, as well as a severe bleeding tendency. This is compatible with 2 major blood cell types contributing to the clinical symptoms (ie, granulocytes and platelets). In granulocytes of the patients, we found adhesion and chemotaxis defects, as well as a defect in NADPH oxidase activity triggered by unopsonized zymosan. This last test can be used as a screening test for the syndrome. Many proteins and genes involved in adhesion and signaling, including small GTPases such as Rap1 and Rap2 as well as the major Rap activity-regulating molecules, were normally present. Moreover, Rap1 activation was intact in patients' blood cells. Defining the primary defect awaits genetic linkage analysis, which may be greatly helped by a more precise understanding and awareness of the disease combined with the early identification of affected patients.

Autoantigens↗