| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
From the Department of Pathology,* Tokushima University School of Dentistry, and the Departments of Orthopedic Surgery, and Otolaryngology, The University of Tokushima School of Medicine, Tokushima, Japan
Although a number of autoimmune diseases are known to develop in postmenopausal women, the mechanisms by which estrogen deficiency influences autoimmune lesions remain unclear. We speculate that antiestrogenic actions might be a potent factor in the formation of pathogenic autoantigens. Previously, we have identified 120-kd 
-fodrin as an important autoantigen in Sjögren’s syndrome (SS). When healthy C57BL/6 (B6) mice were treated with an ovariectomy (Ovx), we found a significant increase in TUNEL+-apoptotic epithelial cells in the salivary gland cells associated with -fodrin cleavage during 2 and 3 weeks after Ovx. By contrast, no apoptotic cells were found in estrogen receptor- knockout mice. In in vitro studies using primary cultured mouse salivary gland cells and human salivary gland cells, we found a cleavage product of 120-kd -fodrin in cells that had undergone tamoxifen (Tam)-induced apoptosis through caspase activation, especially caspase-1. Adoptive transfer of -fodrin-reactive T cells into Ovx-B6 and -SCID mice resulted in the development of autoimmune exocrinopathy quite similar to SS. These results suggest that estrogen deficiency exerts a crucial influence on autoantigen cleavage, and may cause, in part, autoimmune exocrinopathy in postmenopausal women.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  N. Ishimaru, R. Arakaki, F. Omotehara, K. Yamada, K. Mishima, I. Saito, and Y. Hayashi Novel Role for RbAp48 in Tissue-Specific, Estrogen Deficiency-Dependent Apoptosis in the Exocrine Glands Mol. Cell. Biol., April 15, 2006; 26(8): 2924 - 2935. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 O. Imamov, G.-J. Shim, M. Warner, and J.-A. Gustafsson Estrogen Receptor beta in Health and Disease Biol Reprod, November 1, 2005; 73(5): 866 - 871. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Ramos-Casals and J. Font Primary Sjogren's syndrome: current and emergent aetiopathogenic concepts Rheumatology, November 1, 2005; 44(11): 1354 - 1367. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Miyazaki, N. Takeda, N. Ishimaru, F. Omotehara, R. Arakaki, and Y. Hayashi Analysis of in Vivo Role of {alpha}-Fodrin Autoantigen in Primary Sjogren's Syndrome Am. J. Pathol., October 1, 2005; 167(4): 1051 - 1059. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 R. Mo, J. Chen, A. Grolleau-Julius, H. S. Murphy, B. C. Richardson, and R. L. Yung Estrogen Regulates CCR Gene Expression and Function in T Lymphocytes J. Immunol., May 15, 2005; 174(10): 6023 - 6029. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. Kuroda, T. Mitani, N. Takeda, N. Ishimaru, R. Arakaki, Y. Hayashi, Y. Bando, K. Izumi, T. Takahashi, T. Nomura, et al. Development of Autoimmunity against Transcriptionally Unrepressed Target Antigen in the Thymus of Aire-Deficient Mice J. Immunol., February 15, 2005; 174(4): 1862 - 1870. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 G.-J. Shim, M. Warner, H.-J. Kim, S. Andersson, L. Liu, J. Ekman, O. Imamov, M. E. Jones, E. R. Simpson, and J.-A. Gustafsson Aromatase-deficient mice spontaneously develop a lymphoproliferative autoimmune disease resembling Sjogren's syndrome PNAS, August 24, 2004; 101(34): 12628 - 12633. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G.-J. Shim, L. L. Kis, M. Warner, and J.-A. Gustafsson Autoimmune glomerulonephritis with spontaneous formation of splenic germinal centers in mice lacking the estrogen receptor alpha gene PNAS, February 10, 2004; 101(6): 1720 - 1724. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
