Diseases of Immunity Flashcards
What is central tolerance and where does it occur?
it is learned tolerance prior to release from generative organs; occurs in the thymus and in the bone marrow
What happens if B cells recognize and react to their own self antigens?
they have the opportunity for receptor editing or they undergo apoptosis
What are the mechanisms of peripheral tolerance?
T regulatory suppression and anergy
How does anergy occur?
T lymphocytes have inhibitory receptors; our self cells express ligands and if the T cells bind to these ligands on the self cell they undergo anergy
what are the inhibitory receptors that are found on T lymphocytes that are important in the process of anergy?
CTLA and PD-1
what do our self cells express that can bind to the T lymphocytes and induce anergy?
CD 80/86 or PDL1
What are three different mechanisms for autoimmune diseases?
susceptibility genes, molecular mimicry, and epitope spreading
what autoimmune diseases occur via the mechanism of susceptibility genes?
ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn’s disease
what autoimmune diseases occur via the mechanism of molecular mimicry?
rheumatic heart disease
what autoimmune diseases occur via the mechanism of epitope spreading?
oral lichen planus
What is the susceptible gene that is associated with ankylosing spondylitis?
B27
what is ankylosing spondylitis/ how does it present?
it is a hereditary inflammatory condition of the joints; young patients present with severe neck and back pain; bamboo spine
What is the susceptible gene associated with rheumatoid arthritis?
PTPN22 (protein tyrosine phosphatase)
what does the polymorphism of the PTPN22 gene lead to?
there is not adequate elimination of the self reactive clones, so you don’t suppress your T cell response; leads to increased inflammation; they have a direct influence on reducing B-cell and T-cell tolerance
What is the susceptible gene associated with Crohn’s disease?
NOD-2 gene
what happens in cases of polymorphisms of the NOD-2 gene?
paneth cells in the intestinal epithelium are ineffective at killing microbes; so there is a significant overgrowth of bacteria and an accompanying inflammatory response
what is molecular mimicry?
when there is antigenic similarity between true pathogens and native tissues leading to autoimmunity
What is the mechanism of rheumatic heart disease?
molecular mimicry
What occurs during epitope spreading?
some of our antigens are hiding intracellularly or they are just anatomically hidden; this means that if something happens to breakdown the intact structures or cells, we can spill out antigens that our immune system has never seen before
during oral lichen planus, what happens during the initial T response?
leads to keratotic lesions in the oral and conjunctival mucosa, which leads to basement membrane disruption exposing antigenic proteins (lichen planus)
what is the secondary disease that follows Lichen Planus?
Pemphigoid (a secondary B cell response)
If you suspect an autoimmune disease might be occurring in your patient, what would be one of the first test you order?
ANA (anti-nuclear antibody) test
if a patient tests positive for ANA, what test would you look for to be positive if they had lupus?
anti DS DNA or anti smith
if a patient tests positive for ANA, what test would you look for to be positive if they had Sjogren syndrome?
Anti Ro/ SS-A or Anti La/ SS-B
if a patient tests positive for ANA, what test would you look for to be positive if they had systemic sclerosis?
Anti DNA topoisomerase (Scl-70)
what is the staining pattern associated with systemic lupus erythematous?
homogenous
what is the staining pattern associated with systemic sclerosis?
nucleolar (or speckled)
what is the staining pattern associated with CREST syndrome?
centromeric
what is the genetic association with Lupus?
family patterns or HLA-DQ possibly
what is the gender bias associated with lupus?
females get it more often than males
what environmental factor is associated with increased risk of developing lupus?
UV radiation
there are multiple immune mechanisms involved in systemic lupus erythematous, what are 2 examples?
B cells and CD-4 T cells, and immune complex formation (TYPE III HYPERSENSITIVITY)
what is the most sensitive/consistent thing you are going to see present in patients with lupus?
an abnormal CBC (could be a hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, or leukopenia
What is the most common pattern of lupus nephritis?
diffuse lupus nephritis (class IV)
how do patients with diffuse lupus nephritis typically present? and why?
they present with complaints of proteinuria and hematuria; the immune complexes have landed in the glomerular capillary loop
how can you identify diffuse lupus nephritis on a regular microscope?
the mesangial cells are proliferating as the damage is occurring there; the glomeruli show increased cellularity
what does immunofluorescence of diffuse lupus nephritis show?
a granular pattern of IgG antibody-containing complexes ; tends to give a very patchy appearance
what is a cardiac complication associated with lupus?
Libman-Sacks endocarditis and CAD
what is libman-sacks endocarditis?
verrucous (warty) valve deposits compromised of fibrin; these are not infective and they can rarely embolize
what might cause lupus patients to be more susceptible for CAD?
the contribution from anti-phospholipid antibody syndrome
What histological feature is always associated with Lupus and what is this?
an L-E cell; what happens in lupus is your phagocytic cells (e.g. neutrophils) find damaged cells and swallow them; the neutrophils become so full that it had to squash its own nucleus
What is discoid lupus?/ how does discoid lupus present
discoid rashes on face and scalp; these patients don’t tend to have renal involvement or cardiac involvement; just the skin involvement
why is discoid lupus hard to make a diagnosis?
these patients often times do not have a positive ANA test and when they are positive they do not have specific markers
what is drug-induced lupus/ how does it present?
a very specific scenario; an older, cardiac patient that you put on a new drug and then they develop lupus; it is a medication induced breakdown of self-tolerance; they have arthralgia, fever, and cutaneous lesions
what do patients with drug-induced lupus test positive for?
ANA and anti-histone antibodies
what is sjogren syndrome?
an autoimmune disease resulting in the destruction of lacrimal and salivary gland tissue
what is the pathogenesis of sjogren syndrome?
b and t cell mediated inflammatory reaction to target tissues with inflammatory damage followed by fibrotic destruction
what is the clinical presentation of sjogren syndrome?
dry irritated eyes, dry mouth (xerostomia), and difficulty swallowing