Disruption of positive selection of thymocytes causes autoimmunity.
To differentiate into T cells, immature thymocytes must engage, through their antigen-specific T-cell receptor, peptides derived from self proteins presented by cortical epithelial cells in the thymus, a process called positive selection. Despite this requirement for self-recognition during development, mature T cells do not normally show autoreactivity. Mice injected in the thymus with procainamide-hydroxylamine, a metabolite of procainamide, develop autoimmune features resembling drug-induced lupus. Here, we show that when thymocytes undergo positive selection in the presence of procainamide-hydroxylamine, they fail to establish unresponsiveness to low affinity selecting self antigens, resulting in systemic autoimmunity.[1]References
- Disruption of positive selection of thymocytes causes autoimmunity. Kretz-Rommel, A., Rubin, R.L. Nat. Med. (2000) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg
