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. 2005 Nov;64(Suppl 4):iv15–iv17. doi: 10.1136/ard.2005.042556

Stimulation of autoimmunity by toll-like receptor ligands

A Limmer, R Ganss, N Garbi, B Arnold, G Hammerling
PMCID: PMC1766910  PMID: 16239378

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Figure 1.

Figure 1

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 Inflammation may cause activation of T cells by tissue cells and autoaggression. Under steady state conditions circulating naive and activated T cells are prevented from entering tissues because of endothelial barriers (for example the liver parenchyma, but this scenario holds true for other organs and tumours). Although tissues may express autoantigens, tissue damage by autoreactive T cells is prevented. After an infection or contact of endothelial cells, macrophages, or dendritic cells (DCs) with toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands (for example CpG-ODN) in the relevant organ, inflammatory changes allow naive and activated T cells to enter tissues and destroy antigen bearing cells. Under inflammatory conditions it is also possible that naive T cells are activated directly in situ by non-professional tissue cells, which upregulate costimulatory molecules because of contact with inflammatory mediators produced by activated professional antigen presenting cells.

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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