Arthritis provoked by linked T and B cell recognition of a glycolytic enzyme

Science. 1999 Nov 26;286(5445):1732-5. doi: 10.1126/science.286.5445.1732.

Abstract

The hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is specific destruction of the synovial joints. In a mouse line that spontaneously develops a disorder with many of the features of human RA, disease is initiated by T cell recognition of a ubiquitously expressed self-antigen; once initiated, pathology is driven almost entirely by immunoglobulins. In this study, the target of both the initiating T cells and pathogenic immunoglobulins was identified as glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, a glycolytic enzyme. Thus, some forms of RA or related arthritides may develop by a mechanism fundamentally different from the currently popular paradigm of a joint-specific T cell response.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antigen Presentation
  • Antigen-Antibody Complex / immunology
  • Antigen-Antibody Complex / metabolism
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid / immunology*
  • Autoantibodies / immunology*
  • Autoantigens / immunology*
  • B-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • Cross Reactions
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase / chemistry
  • Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase / immunology*
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulins / immunology
  • Joints / immunology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Inbred NOD
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology*

Substances

  • Antigen-Antibody Complex
  • Autoantibodies
  • Autoantigens
  • Immunoglobulins
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase