Balance between Estrogens and Proinflammatory Cytokines Regulates Chemokine Production Involved in Thymic Germinal Center Formation.

ABSTRACT: The early-onset form of Myasthenia Gravis (MG) is prevalent in women and associates with ectopic germinal centers (GCs) development and inflammation in the thymus. we aimed to investigate the contribution of estrogens in the molecular processes involved in thymic GCs formation. We examined expression of genes involved in anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) response in MG, MHC class II and α-AChR subunit as well as chemokines involved in GC development (CXCL13, CCL21and CXCL12). In resting conditions, estrogens have strong regulatory effects on thymic epithelial cells (TECs), inducing a decreased protein expression of the above molecules. In knockout mouse models for estrogen receptor or aromatase, we observed that perturbation in estrogen transduction pathway altered MHC Class II, α-AChR, a

SUBMITTER: Dragin N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5554297 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature