Lecture 20

Question 1

How are allergies genetically encoded?

Answer 1

each person has 12 HLA alleles, defined ones confer susceptibility to allergy and autoimmunity

Question 2

What is the hygiene hypothesis?

Answer 2

lack of early childhood exposure to infectious agents –> susceptibility to allergic diseases

Question 3

What is Crohn’s disease?

Answer 3

chronic inflammation of distal small intestine

Question 4

How does NOD2 impact the GI tract?

Answer 4

promotes expression of a-Defensins, decrease in a-defensins = inability to maintain barrier

Question 5

What are immune privileged sites? How does this relate to central tolerance?

Answer 5

blood brain barrier, eye, testes, ovaries, uterus
AIRE does not allow expression of tissue specific proteins that occur within privileged sites

Question 6

What happens in MS?

Answer 6

blood brain barrier becomes permeable, self-antigens never seen are encountered

Question 7

What are treatments for autoimmune diseases?

Answer 7

target cytokines like TNF-a, IL-17, Il-23, Il-36

Question 8

What is the pathology of autoimmune disease?

Answer 8

antigen present, IL-23 goes from innate to adaptive, IL-17 goes from adaptive to innate, no resolution of inflammation