Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
4
pubmed:dateCreated
1992-7-7
pubmed:abstractText
High doses of recombinant interleukin-2 (IL-2) may induce autoimmune lesions in patients receiving experimental cancer treatment. In most cases, the manifestation of autoaggression is transient and organ-specific, predominantly affecting the thyroid gland. Only a fraction of the patients are concerned; most individuals (around 90%) do not develop any signs of autoimmunity. Apparently, endogenously hyperproduced IL-2 may also be implicated in the pathogenesis of autoaggression, since active phases of such disparate autoimmune diseases, like multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus, are accompanied by elevated IL-2 serum levels. Taking into account that immunological self-tolerance is maintained by several distinct mechanisms, we investigated whether IL-2 would interfere with clonal deletion or clonal anergy in vivo. In several experimental systems, IL-2 failed to abolish clonal deletion in the murine thymus or in the peripheral T-cell compartment. IL-2 did not affect the clonal deletion of self-reactive B cells in the bone marrow either. In contrast, IL-2 was found to be effective in abrogating clonal anergy of non-deleted self-specific T cells. Only in the presence of high frequencies of self-specific, potentially autoreactive T cells, IL-2 induces autoimmune lesions. Thus, IL-2 interferes with a mechanism of self-tolerance that guarantees the inactivation of T cells that for some reason have 'escaped' clonal deletion. If these data, obtained in the murine system, are extrapolated to man, then it may be stated that the T-cell repertoire of most individuals has been completely purged from self-reactive cells. Only in the presence of a non-deleted, anergic, potentially auto-reactive T-cell population, could organ-specific disease be induced by IL-2.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
1018-2438
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
97
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
251-7
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1992
pubmed:articleTitle
Interleukin-2: a possible trigger for autoimmunity.
pubmed:affiliation
Centro de Biología Molecular (CSIC), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, España.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't