Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P05231 (interleukin-6)
 23,907 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Evidence from epidemiological and histopathologic studies in humans with autoimmune type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes suggests that beta-cell destruction within the islets of Langerhans progresses through a number of stages. In this review we draw on recent experimental evidence in an attempt to define the molecular pathology of these stages. Stage 1 is postulated to be initiated by modification of the beta cell by virus, chemical or other factors, leading to the production of interferon-alpha, hyperexpression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules and induction of MHC class II molecules. Experiments in transgenic mice suggest that overexpression of MHC molecules is in itself detrimental to beta-cell function. Shedding of antigen(s) from dying beta cells in combination with hyperexpression of MHC molecules may be a powerful immunogenic stimulus. Stage 2 commences with infiltration of the islets by immuno-inflammatory cells (termed insulitis). It is proposed that production of cytokines from the infiltrating cells induces "phenotypic switching" in beta cells, with further upregulation of MHC molecules and the induction of intracellular adhesion molecule-1 expression and interleukin-6 production. Together, these properties are seen as a prerequisite for the presentation of autoantigen by beta cells to adherent T lymphocytes and autoimmune activation. The final stage encompasses autoimmune-mediated destruction of the beta cells by the targeted delivery of cytotoxic cytokines and other mediators.
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PMID:Molecular pathology of type 1 diabetes. 223 44

Cytokine production was studied in thyroid tissue from patients with Graves' disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis and non-toxic goitre. The expression of interferon gamma, tumour necrosis factor alpha and beta, interleukin-1 alpha and beta, interleukin-6 and platelet-derived growth factor A chain was assessed by slot-blot analysis of the respective mRNA in freshly isolated tissue samples. All seven cytokines were detected in patients of all groups. Although the respective mRNA levels were, in general, higher in thyroid autoimmune disorders, this appeared to relate to the degree of the lymphocytic infiltration of the thyroid gland at the time of surgery. Purified thyroid follicular cells expressed high levels of interleukin-1 alpha and interleukin-6 mRNA and when established in primary culture, purified thyroid follicular cells from Graves' disease as well as non-toxic goitre produced interleukin-1 alpha and interleukin-6 bioactivity spontaneously. In the case of interleukin-1 this could be further augmented by addition of lipopolysaccharide to the thyroid follicular cell cultures. These results demonstrate that the lymphocytic infiltrate found in autoimmune and non-autoimmune thyroid disorders is associated with cytokine production. Additionally we have shown that intrathyroidal cytokine production is not restricted to thyroid-infiltrating mononuclear cells, but may also involve thyroid follicular cells both in vivo and in vitro. The cytokines produced by thyroid follicular cells may have an important role in stimulating autoantigen specific T cells in vivo as both interleukin-1 and interleukin-6 facilitate T cell activation.
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PMID:Analysis of intrathyroidal cytokine production in thyroid autoimmune disease: thyroid follicular cells produce interleukin-1 alpha and interleukin-6. 268 Jan 82

A possible correlation between the pathogenicity of autoimmune T cells and their lymphokine production, expression of functional adhesion molecules and expression of some surface antigens was examined. We used four retinal antigen-specific Lewis rat T cell lines and sublines: one specific to the major pathogenic epitope of the human retinal soluble antigen (S-Ag; residues 337-356), and three specific to the major pathogenic epitope of the bovine interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP; residues 1177-1191). The lines have different degrees of uveitogenicity, from highly pathogenic to nonpathogenic. All four T cell lines produced roughly equivalent amounts of interferon-gamma, lymphotoxin/tumor necrosis factor (TNF alpha/beta), interleukin-3, interleukin-6 and transforming growth factor-beta. Interleukin-4 activity could not be detected. The lines also expressed similar levels of functional adhesion molecules, as measured by binding to cultured rat aorta endothelial cells. The nonpathogenic subline, however, was the lowest responder to antigenic stimulation with respect to proliferation and interleukin-2 production. Examination of cell surface antigens showed that in contrast to the other lines, the majority of cells in the nonpathogenic subline lacked detectable expression of CD4. No difference was found in the level of expression of the IL-2 receptor and T cell antigen receptor among the four lines. Because CD4 is the restricting element in these lines, reduced CD4 expression in the nonpathogenic subline may at least partially explain its poor response in vitro to antigenic stimulation. All three attributes could be connected to lack of pathogenicity of this line in vivo. These results support the contention that class II-restricted recognition of autoantigen within the neuroretina by uveitogenic T lymphocytes must occur as an initial step in the pathogenesis of EAU. A defect in this step will preclude pathogenesis regardless of some other functional attributes possessed by effector T cells, such as production of inflammatory lymphokines and expression of adhesion molecules.
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PMID:Uveitogenic T lymphocytes in the rat: pathogenicity vs. lymphokine production, adhesion molecules and surface antigen expression. 752 41

Now that the immune involvement in scleroderma is well established, attention is focused on defining the precise mechanisms in immune activation, the nature of autoantigens, the clinical description of disease subsets as defined by autoantibodies, the cytokine network, and the participation of various immune cells in the disease. Yet the exact trigger of immune involvement is still elusive. Interaction of immune cells with the vascular endothelium, through cell-cell interactions and the effect of cytokines, is one of the earliest changes in scleroderma. It is still unclear whether immune alteration follows or precedes endothelial changes. Nonetheless, involvement of the adhesion molecules cascade is well documented. A nucleolar location has been suggested for all of the major autoantigens in scleroderma, with the nucleolus as the primary autoantigen molecular structure. Topoisomerase-I homology to viral proteins continues to be the focus of investigation; however, molecular mimicry in scleroderma autoimmunity is still unproven. Enhanced expression and responses to interleukin-1 and interleukin-6 by scleroderma fibroblasts emphasize the interactive nature of fibroblasts and demonstrate the ability of nonimmune cells to produce immune mediators. Circulating autoantibodies to interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 add another dimension to our understanding of cytokine network regulation in scleroderma. Circulating markers reflecting T-cell activation in vivo continue to be observed. Adenosine deaminase is the most recent indicator described. Nonetheless, the exact phenotype of the principal effector T cell in scleroderma is still not known. A restricted usage of the V beta gene repertoire of the double-negative alpha/beta T cells propose this cell type as the alloreactive cell in scleroderma.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Immunologic aspects of scleroderma. 811 39

Type I Diabetes mellitus (DM1) is the effect of T cell dependent autoimmune destruction of insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas islet. T cells are activated in response to islet dominant autoantigens, the result being the development of DM1. Insulin is one of the islet autoantigens responsible for activation of T lymphocyte functions, inflammatory cytokine production and development of DM1. The experiments reported in this study have shown the spontaneous increase of CD95 molecule expression on lymphocytes of the first-degree relatives of DM1 patients. The autoantigen insulin is responsible for stimulation in vitro of potentially hazardous 'memory' lymphocytes to produce interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) interleukins. Insulin induced stimulation of lymphocytes in vitro was observed in patients at high risk of developing diabetes mellitus (prediabetics). Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) stimulates lymphocytes of all groups in the same way. Stimulated lymphocytes in second cultures undergo apoptosis induced with anti-Fas specific antibodies. The deletion in vitro of resting peripheral lymphocytes is nonfunctional. Insulin activated T lymphocytes, which undergo apoptosis were not observed in peripheral blood of healthy people and in patients with DM1. This observation suggests that insulin is involved as autoantigen in DM1 progression in patients with high risk of diabetes type I. The autoreactive T lymphocytes may persist in peripheral blood of patients with high risk DM1. Defective elimination of autoreactive T cells may result in autodestructive damage of islets beta cells in the prediabetic stage and disease progression to DM1.
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PMID:Activated T lymphocytes from patients with high risk of type I diabetes mellitus have different ability to produce interferon-gamma, interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 and undergo anti-CD95 induced apoptosis after insulin stimulation. 1116 80

Genes overexpressed in pancreatic islets of patients with new-onset type 1 diabetes are potential candidates for novel disease-related autoantigens. RT-PCR-based subtractive hybridization was used on islets from a patient who died at the onset of type 1 diabetes, and it identified a type 1 diabetes-related cDNA encoding hepatocarcinoma-intestine-pancreas/pancreatic-associated protein (HIP/PAP). This protein belongs to the family of Reg proteins implicated in islet regeneration; its gene contains a putative interleukin-6 (IL-6) response element. Islets from healthy cadaveric human donors released HIP/PAP protein into the culture medium, and this release was enhanced by the addition of IL-6. The expression pattern of mouse homologues of HIP/PAP was determined in pancreata of prediabetic and diabetic NOD mice. Both groups showed positive immunostaining for HIP/PAP in islets and ductal epithelium. To test whether HIP/PAP is a target of islet-directed autoimmunity, we measured splenic T-cell responses against HIP/PAP in NOD mice. Spontaneous proliferation was detected after 4 weeks. Lymphocytes from islet infiltrates and pancreatic lymph nodes from 7- to 10-week-old NOD mice were used to establish an HIP/PAP-specific I-A(g7)-restricted T-cell line, termed WY1, that also responded to mouse islets. WY1 cells homed to islets of NOD-SCID mice and adoptively transferred disease when coinjected with purified CD8(+) cells from diabetic NOD mice. Our conclusion was that differential cloning of Reg from islets of a type 1 diabetic patient and the response of Reg to the cytokine IL-6 suggests that HIP/PAP becomes overexpressed in human diabetic islets because of the local inflammatory response. HIP/PAP acts as a T-cell autoantigen in NOD mice. Therefore, autoimmunity to HIP/PAP might create a vicious cycle, accelerating the immune process leading to diabetes.
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PMID:A Reg family protein is overexpressed in islets from a patient with new-onset type 1 diabetes and acts as T-cell autoantigen in NOD mice. 1181 40

Immunization of BALB/c mice with a select group of cartilage proteoglycans induces progressive polyarthritis. The pathological mechanisms of proteoglycan-induced arthritis are based on autoimmune reactions developed against the mouse self-proteoglycan. This autoimmune inflammatory animal model, which shows many similarities to human rheumatoid arthritis, has close to 100% incidence in susceptible BALB/c mice and is an excellent in vivo model for testing disease-modifying agents. The aim of this work was to study the regulatory mechanisms which control the autoimmune reactions in proteoglycan-induced arthritis, in association with the release of most important cytokines/mediators (interleukin 1 (IL-1), interleukin-2 [IL-2], interleukin-6 [IL-6], tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-alpha], and prostaglandin E(2)) which are believed to play key roles in inflammatory events and cartilage degredation. We have found relatively high levels of IL-1 sera and synovial-cell culture supernatants of arthritic animals, whereas IL-1 was not detected in nonarthritic control animals. Serum autoantibody and IL-1 levels seemed to be sensitive indicators of the oncoming inflammatory events in the joints, whereas autoreactive T-cell responses to mouse proteoglycan became evident only after the onset of arthritis. As proteoglycan-specific T-cell responses were mainly restricted to the joint-draining lymph nodes during the arthritic process, it is likely that the autoantigen-driven mechanism of joint inflammation became local and self-sustaining during cartilage degradation. Thus, autoimmune mechanisms seem to be essential in the "organ specificity" of inflammatory reactions, as "arthritogenic" lymphocytes migrate to and accumulate in both the lymphoid organs and the synovium. IL-1 and IL-2 are among the most important mediators in proteoglycan-induced arthritis and are able to influence autoimmune reactions and the migration of lymphocytes to the synovium.
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PMID:Immunoregulation of Proteoglycan-Induced Arthritis in Balb/c Mice. 1185 96

The TSH receptor (TSHR) is the autoantigen responsible for the hyperthyroidism of Graves' disease. However, whether this receptor plays a role in the development of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) is unclear. Expression of TSHr is augmented in orbital tissues from patients with GO, and in newly differentiated adipocytes derived from precursor cells within the orbit. Our recent studies suggest that interleukin-6 (IL-6), a cytokine elevated in the circulation of Graves' patients, stimulates TSHr expression in vitro in orbital preadipocyte fibroblasts. This cytokine might play a role in the pathogenesis of GO by stimulating TSHr expression within the fatty connective tissues of the orbit, allowing the receptor to act there as an autoantigen. Whether IL-6 also stimulates adipogenesis in the orbit is unclear at present, but such an effect could contribute to the increased volume of orbital adipose/connective tissue characteristic of this condition. Other cytokines, including IFN-gamma and TGF-beta, inhibit TSHr expression and adipogenesis by orbital fibroblasts, effects that would seem to favor disease remission. The initiation and subsequent clinical severity of GO may therefore be influenced by competing inhibitory and stimulatory cytokine effects occurring simultaneously within the orbit. Some of these may impact the expression of TSHr, the putative orbital autoantigen in this condition.
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PMID:Thyrotropin receptor expression in orbital adipose/connective tissues from patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy. 1195 38

Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory, neurodegenerative disease for which experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a model. Treatments with estrogens have been shown to decrease the severity of EAE through anti-inflammatory mechanisms. Here we investigated whether treatment with an estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) ligand could recapitulate the estrogen-mediated protection in clinical EAE. We then went on to examine both anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective mechanisms. EAE was induced in wild-type, ERalpha-, or ERbeta-deficient mice, and each was treated with the highly selective ERalpha agonist, propyl pyrazole triol, to determine the effect on clinical outcomes, as well as on inflammatory and neurodegenerative changes. ERalpha ligand treatment ameliorated clinical disease in both wild-type and ERbeta knock-out mice, but not in ERalpha knock-out mice, thereby demonstrating that the ERalpha ligand maintained ERalpha selectivity in vivo during disease. ERalpha ligand treatment also induced favorable changes in autoantigen-specific cytokine production in the peripheral immune system [decreased TNFalpha, interferon-gamma, and interleukin-6, with increased interleukin-5] and decreased CNS white matter inflammation and demyelination. Interestingly, decreased neuronal staining [NeuN+ (neuronal-specific nuclear protein)/beta3-tubulin+/Nissl], accompanied by increased immunolabeling of microglial/monocyte (Mac 3+) cells surrounding these abnormal neurons, was observed in gray matter of spinal cords of EAE mice at the earliest stage of clinical disease, 1-2 d after the onset of clinical signs. Treatment with either estradiol or the ERalpha ligand significantly reduced this gray matter pathology. In conclusion, treatment with an ERalpha ligand is highly selective in vivo, mediating both anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects in EAE.
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PMID:Treatment with an estrogen receptor alpha ligand is neuroprotective in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. 1679 89

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection causes lung failure characterized by atypical pneumonia. We previously showed that antibodies against SARS-CoV spike domain 2 (S2) in the patient sera can cross-react with human lung epithelial cells; however, the autoantigen is not yet identified. In this study, we performed proteomic studies and identified several candidate autoantigens recognized by SARS patient sera in human lung type II epithelial cell A549. Among the candidate proteins, annexin A2, which was identified by mass spectrometry analysis and had the highest score by Mascot data search, was further characterized and investigated for its role as an autoantigen. By confocal microscopic observation, SARS patient sera and anti-S2 antibodies were co-localized on A549 cells and both of them were co-localized with anti-annexin A2 antibodies. Anti-annexin A2 antibodies bound to purified S2 proteins, and anti-S2 bound to immunoprecipitated annexin A2 from A549 cell lysate in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, an increased surface expression and raft-structure distribution of annexin A2 was present in A549 cells after stimulation with SARS-induced cytokines interleukin-6 and interferon-gamma. Cytokine stimulation increased the binding capability of anti-S2 antibodies to human lung epithelial cells. Together, the upregulated expression of annexin A2 by SARS-associated cytokines and the cross-reactivity of anti-SARS-CoV S2 antibodies to annexin A2 may have implications in SARS disease pathogenesis.
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PMID:Annexin A2 on lung epithelial cell surface is recognized by severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus spike domain 2 antibodies. 2001 51


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