Does HLA-Dependent Chimerism Underlie the Pathogenesis of Juvenile Dermatomyositis?

Ann M. Reed, Kelly McNallan, Peter Wettstein, Richard Vehe, Carole Ober

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) is a multisystem autoimmune disease that at times resembles chronic graft-vs-host disease. This led us to suggest that nonself cells may play a role in the disease process. In this study we examined the relationship between HLA genotype and the presence of maternally derived chimeric cells in JDM patients and healthy controls, and assessed immunologic activity in the chimeric cells. We identified chimeric cells more often in children with JDM (60 of 72) than in their unaffected siblings (11 of 48) or in healthy controls (5 of 29). The presence of chimerism in the JDM patients, their healthy siblings, and unaffected control children was associated with a HLA-DQA1*0501 allele in the mother (p = 0.011). Further, we show that maternally transferred chimeric T cells are responsive to the host's (JDM childs') lymphocytes (33.75 ± 8.4 IFN-γ-producing cells from JDM cells vs 5.0 ± 1.25 from maternal cells), and that this is a memory response. These combined data indicate that chimeric cells play a direct role in the JDM disease process and that the mother's HLA genotype facilitates the transfer and/or persistence of maternal cells in the fetal circulation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)5041-5046
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Immunology
Volume172
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 15 2004

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Immunology and Allergy
  • Immunology

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