Autoimmune disease of exocrine organs in immunodeficient alymphoplasia mice: a spontaneous model for Sjören's syndrome

R Tsubata, T Tsubata, H Hiai… - European journal of …, 1996 - Wiley Online Library
R Tsubata, T Tsubata, H Hiai, R Shinkura, R Matsumura, T Sumida, S Miyawaki, H Ishida…
European journal of immunology, 1996Wiley Online Library
Mice homozygous for an autosomal recessive mutation aly (alymphoplasia) lack both lymph
nodes and Peyer's patches, and show defects in both humoral and cellular immunity.
Histopathological analysis revealed chronic inflammatory changes in exocrine organs such
as the salivary gland, lacrimal gland, and pancreas of the homozygotes (alylaly), but not the
heterozygotes (sly/+). In these exocrine organs, mononuclear cells consisting mainly of
CD4+ T cells infiltrate periductal areas, and, in some cases, the cell infiltration extended to …
Mice homozygous for an autosomal recessive mutation aly (alymphoplasia) lack both lymph nodes and Peyer’s patches, and show defects in both humoral and cellular immunity. Histopathological analysis revealed chronic inflammatory changes in exocrine organs such as the salivary gland, lacrimal gland, and pancreas of the homozygotes (alylaly), but not the heterozygotes (sly/+). In these exocrine organs, mononuclear cells consisting mainly of CD4+ T cells infiltrate periductal areas, and, in some cases, the cell infiltration extended to lobules. The inflammatory changes in exocrine organs were transferred by a T cellenriched fraction of spleen cells from homozygous animals. These results suggest that autoimmune mechanisms mediated by self-reactive T cells may be involved in the inflammatory lesions of various exocrine organs in the homozygous mice, although these mice show immunodeficiency. Inflammatory changes were also observed in the lung of the homozygotes. Since Sjogren’s syndrome is characterized by diffuse lymphocyte infiltration in the periductal areas of the lacrimal and salivary glands and is occasionally associated with pulmonary disease, alylaly mice may serve as a unique spontaneous model of Sjogren’s syndrome.
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