T cell-mediated diseases of immunity

Abstract

The understanding of the immunological processes involved in T cell-mediated disease in humans has greatly benefited from the study of similar processes in animals [11. Whether induced by a specific antigen or spontaneously occurring, all have lent insight to and sometimes confused the puzzle of the etiology and pathogenesis of human disease. This chapter emphasizes three major examples of organ-specific and systemic animal models of T cell-mediated disease in mice. Organ-specific diseases are either antigen-induced, as in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), experimental allergic neuritis (EAN), transplant allograft rejection, or graft versus host disease (GVHD), or occur spontaneously as for models of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). The primary animal model of systemic autoimmune disease is a spontaneously occurring syndrome in inbred mice which resembles human systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The goal is to provide a descriptive analysis of a few select models with regard to what is known of the etiology and pathogenesis and to afford opportunities for evaluation of new therapeutic targets and mechanisms for the treatment of human immunological disorders which are the result of T cell regulatory processes. Finally, since animal models are constructs either experimentally or from nature as prototypes of human disease, it should be noted that there are as many subtle differences as there are overt similarities. This should always be kept within the investigators’ hypotheses and interpretations.KeywordsMethotrexateGlucocorticoidNeurolCyclophosphamidePsoriasisThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.