Ishibashi Hiromi, Nakamura Minoru, Shimoda Shinji, Gershwin M Eric
Clinical Research Center, National Nagasaki Medical Center, Kubara 2-1001-1, Omura, Nagasaki 856-8562, Japan.
Autoimmun Rev. 2003 Jan;2(1):19-24. doi: 10.1016/s1568-9972(02)00122-2.
T lymphocytes play a pivotal role in the autoimmune response in primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Recent studies have shown that there is overlapping in the PDC-E2-specific T and B cell epitopes. In addition, helper T and cytotoxic T cell epitopes all contain a shared peptide sequence. In addition, recognition of exogenous antigens including bacterial antigens by autoantigen-specific T cell and the mechanism of molecular mimicry provide a clue to clarifying the pathogenesis of PBC. Furthermore, the findings that autoantigen-immune complexes cross present and also that the presentation of autoantigen is of a higher relative efficiency, define a unique role of autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of the autoimmune disease. The mechanism of immune-mediated bile duct damage in PBC, including the possible role of T cell-mediated cytotoxicity and molecular mimicry is discussed.
