Back
Interferon-alpha-induced endogenous superantigen. a model linking environment and autoimmunity.
Journal article

Interferon-alpha-induced endogenous superantigen. a model linking environment and autoimmunity.

Show more…
  • 2001-10-24
Published in:
  • Immunity. - 2001
Antigens, CD
Autoimmunity
CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes
CD48 Antigen
Cells, Cultured
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1
Endogenous Retroviruses
Environment
Gene Products, env
Humans
Interferon-alpha
Leukocytes
Lymphocyte Activation
Membrane Proteins
Models, Immunological
Proviruses
RNA, Viral
Superantigens
Transfection
Virus Diseases
English We earlier proposed that a human endogenous retroviral (HERV) superantigen (SAg) IDDMK(1,2)22 may cause type I diabetes by activating autoreactive T cells. Viral infections and induction of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) are tightly associated with the onset of autoimmunity. Here we establish a link between viral infections and IFN-alpha-regulated SAg expression of the polymorphic and defective HERV-K18 provirus. HERV-K18 has three alleles, IDDMK(1,2)22 and two full-length envelope genes, that all encode SAgs. Expression of HERV-K18 SAgs is inducible by IFN-alpha and this is sufficient to stimulate V beta 7 T cells to levels comparable to transfectants constitutively expressing HERV-K18 SAgs. Endogenous SAgs induced via IFN-alpha by viral infections is a novel mechanism through which environmental factors may cause disease in genetically susceptible individuals.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/175294
Statistics
Document views: 19 File downloads: