Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Jul 24.
Published in final edited form as: Sci Transl Med. 2013 Jul 24;5(195):195fs29. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3006850

Fig. 1. Other little helper.

Fig. 1

(Left) In lymph nodes that drain the salivary glands, NK cells interact with DCs carrying apoptotic debris from SGECs, resulting in DC maturation. Mature DCs interact with and activate T cells, which then couple with and activate B cells, thus initiating the systemic autoimmune response. (Right) Within the salivary glands, NKp30-expressing NK cells interact with SGECs that express B7-H6. This interaction leads to the production of multiple chemokines, which spurs inflammatory cell infiltration within the salivary gland. NK-activated DCs interact with infiltrating T cells. The resulting activated T cells couple with and activate B cells, which produce autoantibodies and thus initiate and sustain a localized autoimmune response. IL-12, interleukin-12.