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Influence of microbial environment on autoimmunity

Nature Immunology volume 11, pages 28–35 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

During protective immune responses, the adaptive arm of the immune system requires activation by signals provided by innate immunity and driven by microbial stimuli. Whether the same rules apply to autoimmune diseases involving clonal self-reactive T and B lymphocytes—a process referred to here as 'adaptive autoimmunity'—is not quite clear. Nevertheless, in these diseases, the innate–adaptive connection is likely to be influenced by the microbial environment. This review integrates the results of experiments analyzing autoimmunity in sterile versus nonsterile conditions and experiments testing the role of innate immune receptor signaling in autoimmunity. It proposes that autoimmune diseases can be divided into two groups, the pathogenesis of which either follows the rules of innate–adaptive connection or does not.

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Figure 1: Microbial involvement in autoimmunity.
Figure 2: Autoimmune diseases can be divided into two main groups.
Figure 3: Types of diseases associated with the activation of the immune system.

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Acknowledgements

I thank R. Medzhitov for discussions and J. Pickard for suggestions on the manuscript. Supported by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (2005-204 and 2007-353), US National Institutes of Health (NIH; DK063452) and an NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases Digestive Disease Research Core Center grant (DK42086).

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  1. Department of Pathology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Alexander V Chervonsky

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Chervonsky, A. Influence of microbial environment on autoimmunity. Nat Immunol 11, 28–35 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.1801

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