How persistent infection overcomes peripheral tolerance mechanisms to cause T cell-mediated autoimmune disease.

ABSTRACT: T cells help orchestrate immune responses to pathogens, and their aberrant regulation can trigger autoimmunity. Recent studies highlight that a threshold number of T cells (a quorum) must be activated in a tissue to mount a functional immune response. These collective effects allow the T cell repertoire to respond to pathogens while suppressing autoimmunity due to circulating autoreactive T cells. Our computational studies show that increasing numbers of pathogenic peptides targeted by T cells during persistent or severe viral infections increase the probability of activating T cells that are weakly reactive to self-antigens (molecular mimicry). These T cells are easily re-activated by the self-antigens and contribute to exceeding the quorum threshold required to mount autoimmune responses

SUBMITTER: Yin R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10945823 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature