While it is generally agreed that apoptosis of pancreatic β-cells is the most important and
final step in the progression of type 1 diabetes without which clinical diabetes does not …

Our purpose was to elucidate the hypothesis that paracrine-produced transforming growth
factor (TGF)-beta1 regulates the accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) in renal …

A major obstacle to the development of T cell therapy for the treatment of human tumors has
been the difficulty generating T cells specifically reactive with the tumor. Most of the …

Hyperexpression of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules by islet cells is a
prominent, early feature of islet pathology in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and …

The immune system must not only fight off infections, but also ensure that it does not react
against its own body tissues. Since clones of lymphocytes have predetermined reactivities …

From experimental observations on induction of transplantation tolerance, we discuss a
model that accounts for tissue-specific tolerance to antigens not expressed inside the …

Efficient antigen presentation requires the provision of a costimulatory signal, the best
characterized of which is B7/BB1. It is unclear whether thyroid cells expressing class II …

Three models have been proposed to explain the inability of T lymphocytes to respond to
self-antigens (reviewed in 1):(a) self-reactive T cells are present but are prevented from …

T cell tolerance can be induced in adult mice by injection of soluble antigenic peptide. The
underlying mechanism has been difficult to establish in normal mice due to the low …

Autoimmune diseases are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by functional
and/or structural tissue damage mediated by the immune-system. Interestingly, the …