Toll-Like Receptor and Autoimmunity.

Abstract SCI-24

While the paradigm that adaptive immunity to pathogens requires innate immune activation via pattern recognition receptors is well accepted, until recently how autoimmune responses are initiated and propagated has been less clear. In principle, it is less obvious how the requisite innate immune activation might occur. In 2002 landmark results demonstrated that autoreactive B cells could be activated in vitro by a self-Ags that contained both a BCR and a Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligand; the ability of endogenous chromatin antigens to engage TLR9, a DNA sensor, could explain how anti-DNA type antibodies were generated. We have extended these results in two ways. First, we have evaluated the roles of TLR9 and TLR7 (a ssRNA receptor) in vivo. We backcrossed TLR9 (DNA) and TLR7 (ssRNA) knockout alleles onto the MRL/lpr lupus-prone background. We found that TLR9 was required to generate the anti-chromatin response and TLR7 was required for anti-RNA associated responses. With respect to disease, TLR9 had an unexpected regulatory role: KO mice get more severe lupus, hypergammaglobulinemia, and die prematurely. Whereas, TLR7-deficient mice demonstrate ameliorated disease. This is surprising as TLR7 and TLR9 are highly homologous, are expressed in similar cells, and signal through the same pathway. To investigate the mechanism behind these differences, we have made TLR7 KO and TLR7/9 double KO MRL/lpr mice and I will discuss their phenotypes. In addition, we have used these animals to investigate B cell intrinsic roles for TLR9, and these data will be presented. These results suggest that innate immunity contributes to initiation and specificity of autoimmunity. In the second line of investigation, we have used a mouse that expresses an autoreactive BCR, specific for self-IgG (rheumatoid factor, RF) to investigate the roles of TLRs and T cells in the initial activation of these cells. Taken together, our results indicate that autoreactive B cells are activated in a TLR-dependent, T cell-independent fashion, but only by self molecules that provide a simultaneous BCR and TLR ligand. These cells then differentiate into autoantibody secreting plasmablasts and also are a vector for activating autoreactive T cells. Once this occurs, we propose that full-blown autoimmune disease is initiated and maintained by positive feedback between autoreactive B and T cells. The implications of this model for therapeutic approaches that target both B cells and TLRs will be discussed.