Mechanisms of Autoimmunity

Abstract

The key issues in autoimmunity are concerned with the anti-self repertoire: how it is generated, how it is controlled and why these controls sometimes fail. The normal occurrence of “autoimmune” B cells is well documented. A striking confirmation of this was provided by making hybri-domas with B cells from unimmunized mouse spleens and screening them for autoimmune specificities by immunofluorescence (Wassmer, Abstract 80). Significantly, up to 10% of these hybridomas secreted antibodies reacting with tissues commonly implicated in autoimmune disease including gastric mucosa, smooth muscle, cell nuclei, islets of Langerhans and anterior pituitary. It would be interesting to check whether these “autoimmune” B cells belong to the Ly-1 (Tl) B cell subset reported previously and in Workshop A3 at this meeting (Herzenberg et. al., Abstract 58).