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Autoimmunity

New insights into functional effects of the shared epitope

Nature Reviews Rheumatology volume 9, page 3 (2013)Cite this article

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Does the shared epitope—a common five-amino-acid sequence in the β1 subunit of the HLA-DR molecule—act as a ligand to trigger innate immune signalling? This hypothesis, put forth by Joseph Holoshitz and colleagues, could help explain the mechanism that underlies the well-established yet poorly understood relationship between HLADRB1 alleles that encode the shared epitope and susceptibility to, and severity of, rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recent work by this group, published in The Journal of Immunology, suggests that the shared epitope has direct arthritogenic effects in RA via activation of osteoclastogenesis.

...a synthetic shared epitope peptide induced the differentiation of osteoclasts...

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Holoshitz, J. et al. An HLA-DRB1–coded signal transduction ligand facilitates inflammatory arthritis: a new mechanism of autoimmunity. J. Immunol. doi:10.4049/jimmunol.1202150

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  1. Sarah Onuora
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Onuora, S. New insights into functional effects of the shared epitope. Nat Rev Rheumatol 9, 3 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2012.221

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