Protective and therapeutic role for αB-crystallin in autoimmune demyelination

αB-crystallin (CRYAB) is the most abundant gene transcript present in early active multiple sclerosis lesions, whereas such transcripts are absent in normal brain tissue. This crystallin has anti-apoptotic and neuroprotective functions. CRYAB is the major target of CD4+ T-cell immunity to the myelin sheath from multiple sclerosis brain. The...

Mixed antibody and T cell responses to peanut and the peanut allergens Ara h 1, Ara h 2, Ara h 3 and Ara h 6 in an oral sensitization model

Background: Peanut allergy is known for its severity and persistence through life. Several peanut proteins have been identified as allergenic and are indicated as Ara h 1-7. Very little is known about the mechanisms that underlie sensitization to peanut proteins. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to reveal the immune responses that...

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...

Correlation between the antibody response to influenza vaccine and helper T cell subsets in healthy ageing

To investigate the effects of the altered composition of the helper T cell compartment in ageing on the humoral response to influenza vaccine, we investigated correlations between helper T cell subsets and anti-influenza antibody responses in 23 JUNIEUR healthy young and 41 SENIEUR healthy elderly subjects. Naive helper T cell numbers (CD4...

CD40-CD40 ligand interactions in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis

We investigated the role of CD40-CD40 ligand (CD40L) interactions in multiple sclerosis (MS) and experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). Activated helper T cells expressing CD40L (gp39) surface protein were found in MS patient brain sections, but not in brain tissue sections of normal controls or patients with other neurological diseases....

Role of transforming growth factor-ß in the preferential induction of T helper cells of type 1 by staphylococcal enterotoxin B

Stimulation of murine CD4+ T cells with staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) results in the preferential development of T helper (Th) 1 cells [i.e. high interferon (IFN)-γ and low interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5 and IL-10]; whereas in response to plate-bound anti-CD3 or anti-T cell receptor-αβ, Th1 as well as Th2 cells develop. In the present study, we...

Immunological functions and in vivo cell-cell interactions of T cells in the spleen

The spleen is an important lymphoid organ, involved in immune responses against all types of antigen that appear in the circulation. Its complex anatomical organization, with distinct compartments containing specialized cell types, provides a microenvironment which allows different cell-cell interactions and determines the direction of...