Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.21.69 (APC)
 16,337 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Immune privilege within the eye is due in large part to Ag-specific, systemic down-regulation of Th1 immune responses, a phenomenon termed anterior chamber-associated immune deviation (ACAID). Since the cytokine milieu influences Th cell differentiation, we hypothesized that TGF-beta, an immunosuppressive cytokine secreted by ocular cells, determines the nature of the immune response to Ags introduced into the anterior chamber. Accordingly, an in vitro model of the eye was used to determine the cytokine profile of ocular APC. TGF-beta preferentially induced APC to secrete a Th2-type cytokine, IL-10, and concomitantly suppressed the production of the Th1-inducing cytokine, IL-12. APC incubated with TGF-beta and anti-IL-10 Ab lost their ability to induce ACAID. In the absence of TGF-beta, Ag-pulsed APC preferentially secreted IL-12 and elicited Ag-specific Th1 responses (i.e., delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH)). However, APC pulsed with Ag and exogenous IL-10 behaved in a manner similar to ocular APC and induced Ag-specific suppression of DTH. The role of IL-10 in ACAID was confirmed in IL-10 knockout mice. Anterior chamber injection of OVA into IL-10 knockout mice elicited normal DTH responses rather than ACAID. Moreover, Ag-pulsed APC from IL-10 knockout mice were unable to induce ACAID following in vitro treatment with TGF-beta. Thus, TGF-beta predisposes ocular APC to secrete IL-10 during Ag processing. This, in turn, directs the immune response away from a Th1 pathway and toward a Th2-like response in which DTH is suppressed.
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PMID:A novel role for TGF-beta and IL-10 in the induction of immune privilege. 949 45

Ocular immune privilege is the result of a number of protective mechanisms, including a specialized immune response to antigen encountered in the anterior chamber of the eye. Anterior chamber-associated immune deviation, or ACAID, is characterized by the antigen-specific, selective down-regulation of systemic cell-mediated and humoral immune responses. One current hypothesis of the initiation of ACAID predicts that ocular APC process antigen and then migrate out of the eye and to the spleen where various regulatory T-cell populations are generated. A novel in vitro model of the ACAID spleen was developed to study the cells involved in the generation of suppressed T-cell immunity. ACAID APC co-cultured with whole splenocytes or splenic B and T cells induced efferent suppressors of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH). However, ACAID APC co-cultured with splenic T cells did not generate efferent suppressors of DTH. The requirement for B cells was confirmed with B-cell knockout mice. ACAID APC co-cultured with splenocytes from B-cell knockout mice did not induce efferent suppressors of DTH. Moreover, ACAID could not be induced in B-cell knockout mice in vivo. The reconstitution of B-cell knockout mice with wild-type B cells restored ACAID. In summary, these data confirm the role for B cells in the splenic phase of ACAID. A putative mechanism predicts that ACAID APC release antigenic peptides to B cells in the spleen. B cells then present antigen in a tolerogenic manner leading to the generation of regulatory T cells.
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PMID:Splenic B cells are required for tolerogenic antigen presentation in the induction of anterior chamber-associated immune deviation (ACAID). 976 56