Nature Immunology 7, 354 - 359 (2006)
Published online: 20 March 2006; | doi:10.1038/ni1328
See no evil, hear no evil, do no evil: the lessons of immune privilegeJerry Y Niederkorn
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390-9057, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to Jerry Y Niederkorn jerry.niederkorn@utsouthwestern.edu Immune-mediated inflammation and allograft rejection are greatly reduced in certain organs, a phenomenon called 'immune privilege'. Immune privilege is well developed in three regions of the body: the eye, the brain and the pregnant uterus. Immune-mediated inflammation has devastating consequences in the eye and brain, which have limited capacity for regeneration. Likewise, loss of immune privilege at the maternal-fetal interface culminates in abortion in rodents. However, all three regions share many adaptations that restrict the induction and expression of immune-mediated inflammation. A growing body of evidence from rodent studies suggests that a breakdown in immune privilege contributes to multiple sclerosis, uveitis, corneal allograft rejection and possibly even immune abortion.
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
|
