Autoimmunity Flashcards
What are sentinel cells
- Cells that are the body’s 1st line of defence
- Embed themselves in tissues
Examples of sentinel cells
- Kupffer Cells (liver)
- Langerhans cells (skin + mucosa)
- Microglia (brain)
- Dendritic cells
- Mast cells (blood)
- Macrophages
What is tolerance
A state of unresponsiveness of the mmune system to self
Where is tolerance controlled, centrally and peripherally
- Thymus (central)
- Treg cells (?Th17 cells?)(peripheral)
What is the difference between autoimmunity and autoimmune disease
-Autoimmunity = Physiological autorecognition with secondary epiphenomena
-Autoimmune disease = Immune response contributing to tissue/organ damage.
Often exist as a mix of different autoimmune reactions.
Enviroment + genetics are key.
4 causes of autoimmunity
- Immune regulation
- Hormonal
- Genetic
- Enviroment
Examples of cell mediated autoimmunity
- Chrohn’s Disease
- Psoriasis
What causes chrohn’s
- Autoreactive T cells against intestinal flora antigens
- Leading to lymphocyte infiltration of exocrine glands
- Can be familial (NOD2 gene)
What causes psoriasis
Autoreactive T-cells against skin associated antigens
Example of antibody mediated autoimmunity
-Goodpasture syndrome
Examples of immune complex autoimmunity
- Systemic lupus erythematosis
- Myasthenia Gravis
- Grave’s disease
- Multiple scleoris
What causes SLE
- Failure of tolerance, allowing self-reactive B/T cells to circulate
- Leaked auto-antigen presented to Th-cells + antibodies to DNA made
What causes myasthenia gravis
Autoreactive T/B-cells producing ACH receptor antibodies
Examples of organ specific autoimmune disease
- Grave’s
- MG
- Pernicious anaemia
- DM
Examples of non-organ specific autimmune disease
- SLE
- RA
- Sytemic sclerosis
- Sytemic Vasculitis
