Immune System

Cells of the immune system are found in every organ, from the classic lymphoid organs to tissues such as liver, mucosae, and omental adipose tissue. Toxicity to the immune system may be from a direct or indirect injury to lymphoid organs. The morphological responses range from lymphocyte depletion to proliferation, and may result in an increased...

General aspects of immunotoxicology including validation issues

Histologic examination of lymphoid organs has revealed immunotoxic effects of a broad range of substances. The thymus has proven especially sensitive. The relative lack of sensitivity of mucosa-associated lymphoid cells and tissues may be due to shortcomings in the way they are examined. Validation of ways to examine mucosal lymphoid tissues and...

A new therapeutic approach to treat psoriasis by inhibition of fatty acid oxidation by Etomoxir

Background: The dogma in psoriasis is that due to pathogen-induced inflammatory responses, an autoreactive immune response is induced that leads to tissue destruction. However, this model might be too simplistic. Literature data suggest that the expression of enzymes crucial for fatty acid oxidation is upregulated in the skin of patients with...

Is Candida albicans a trigger in the onset of coeliac disease?

Coeliac disease is a T-cell-mediated autoimmune disease of the small intestine that is induced by ingestion of gluten proteins from wheat, barley, or rye. We postulate that Candida albicans is a trigger in the onset of coeliac disease. The virulence factor of C albicans - hyphal wall protein 1 (HWP1) - contains aminoacid sequences that are...

1H-NMR spectroscopy combined with pattern recognition analysis reveals characteristic chemical patterns in urines of MS patients and non-human primates with MS-like disease

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) spectroscopy in combination with pattern recognition techniques were used to investigate the composition of organic compounds in urines from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), patients with other neurological diseases (OND) and healthy controls (H). Using a valid animal model of MS, namely the...

Prophylactic and therapeutic effects of a humanized monoclonal antibody against the IL-2 receptor (DACLIZUMAB) on collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in rhesus monkeys

CIA in the rhesus monkey is an autoimmune-based polyarthritis with inflammation and erosion of synovial joints that shares various features with human rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The close phylogenetic relationship between man and rhesus monkey makes the model very suitable for preclinical safety and efficacy testing of new therapeutics with...

Altered glucocorticoid regulation of the immune response in the chronic fatigue syndrome

It is increasingly recognized that glucocortiocoids (GCs) can have subtle modulatory effects in immunoregulation rather than having generalized immunosuppressive effects. GCs suppress Th1 cells and cellular immunity, but may favor Th2 responses and humoral immunity. The chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) appears to be associated with a disturbed HPA...

Differential expression of stress proteins in human adult astrocytes in response to cytokines

Various lines of evidence suggest a close relationship between heat shock proteins (hsp) and several autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. While enhanced expression of hsp in autoimmune diseases is often regarded as a non-specific bystander effect of the inflammatory process, surprisingly little is known on hsp...

Predictive testing for pathogenic autoimmunity: The morphological approach

The term autoimmunity refers to physiologically normal immune processes against self-antigens. In rare cases, the regulatory mechanisms become deflective and the uncontrolled production of autoantibodies or activation of autoreactive T-cells can subsequently cause disease. Substances may be capable of evoking autoimmune disease, and it is a...

Tolerance controls encephalitogenicity of αB-crystallin in the Lewis rat

The myelin-associated protein, αB-crystallin, is considered a candidate autoantigen in multiple sclerosis (MS). In the present study, we examined the potential of αB-crystallin to induce experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in Lewis rats. Attempts to induce EAE with either bovine, rat or murine αB-crystallin or αB-crystallin peptides...

Genetic risk factors for autoimmune diseases

In most autoimmune diseases multigenic factors play a significant role in pathogenesis. Progress in identifying these genetic factors, many of which are located outside the major histocompatibility complex, was the subject of a recent meeting. Chemicals/CAS: Interleukin-10, 130068-27-8; Transforming Growth Factor beta; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Functional involvement of CD44, a family of cell adhesion molecules, in immune responses, tumour progression and haematopoiesis

Role of Th1 and Th2 cells in autoimmune demyelinating disease

Evidence is accumulating that Th1 cells play an important role in the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) and experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), whereas Th2 cells contribute to recovery from disease. A maj or determinant in the development of Th1 and Th2 cells is the type of antigen-presenting cell (APC) involved and its...

Multiple sclerosis: An altered immune response or an altered stress response?

The pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), the major neurological disease of young adults in the Western world, is still poorly understood, and no effective therapy to block MS is available as yet. The clinical symptoms of MS result from inflammatory damage to the insulating myelin sheath of axons in the CNS and - at later stages - to axons...

Functions of CD40 and its ligand, gp39 (CD40L)

Initially, a role for the interaction between CD40, expressed on B cells, and gp39 (CD40L), expressed on activated T cells, has been defined in humoral immunity. CD40-CD40L interaction is an essential signal for B cell proliferation, expression of activation markers, immunoglobulin production, and isotype switching. CD40-CD40L interaction is...