Multiple checkpoints control the survival and activation of auto-reactive B cells. The discovery of the TNF family cytokine BAFF has been crucial to understanding peripheral B cell tolerance mechanisms. Homeostatic levels of BAFF are tightly regulated to maintain tolerance in the periphery. Chronically increased levels of BAFF lead to the survival of autoreactive B cells. Autoimmune patients display elevated serum BAFF levels. BAFF Tg mice model this situation with systemically high levels of BAFF and the subsequent development of two separate but related autoimmune syndromes; systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sj??gren???s syndrome (SS). The work conducted in this thesis further investigates the defects in tolerance down-stream of self-reactive B cell survival, which may contribute to autoimmune disease development in BAFF Tg mice. Expansion of the Marginal zone (MZ) B cell population correlates with the pathogenesis of several models of autoimmune disease. BAFF Tg mice are unique in that they not only display an increased splenic MZ B cell population, but also MZ B cells are found in the salivary glands of mice developing SS. The examination of genes differentially regulated between MZ and Follicular (Fo) B cells led to the investigation of sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor biology. The expression of S1P receptors was shown to be required for the positioning of MZ B cells in the spleen. Chronic BAFF stimulation alters the retention of MZ B cells through the alteration of S1P receptors and decreased integrin activation. The alteration of S1P receptors and increased ligand sensitivity leads to the accumulation of MZ B cells in the inflamed salivary glands of BAFF Tg mice. This works provides a potential mechanism for the tissue specificity seen in systemic autoimmune disease. The provision of T cell help to auto-reactive B cells is thought to underlie the development of SLE. BAFF Tg mice deficient in T cells surprisingly developed an SLE-like disease indistinguishable from that of BAFF Tg mice. Autoimmunity in BAFF Tg mice did however require signals through the toll-like receptor (TLR)-associated signalling adaptor, MyD88, which controlled the production of pathogenic autoantibodies. Therefore, autoimmunity in BAFF Tg mice results from altered B cell tolerance, which requires TLR signalling and is independent of T cell help. It is likely that autoimmune patients with elevated levels of BAFF show a similar basis for disease.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/215450 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Groom, Joanna Ruth, School of Medicine, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Medicine |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Joanna Ruth Groom, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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