TY - JOUR
T1 - Balancing susceptibility to infection and autoimmunity
T2 - A role for leptin?
AU - Matarese, Giuseppe
AU - La Cava, Antonio
AU - Sanna, Veronica
AU - Lord, Graham M.
AU - Lechler, Robert I.
AU - Fontana, Silvia
AU - Zappacosta, Serafino
PY - 2002/4/1
Y1 - 2002/4/1
N2 - The immune responses to many infections have long been known to share features with autoimmune responses. In particular, both types of response are typified by the enhanced reactivity of T helper 1 cells - with high levels of interleukin-2, interferon γ and tumor necrosis factor α - and are accompanied often by organ-specific and/or systemic damage and the production of IgG. Paradoxically, the geographical distributions of incidence of infectious diseases and autoimmunity are complementary, rather than coincident. In less-developed societies, an epidemiological association between susceptibility to infection and malnutrition has been observed, whereas in affluent countries, an increased incidence of autoimmune diseases has been described. We suggest that these observations can be explained partly by taking into consideration the immune effects of the adipocyte-derived hormone leptin, which has been shown recently to act as a link between nutritional status and the immune response.
AB - The immune responses to many infections have long been known to share features with autoimmune responses. In particular, both types of response are typified by the enhanced reactivity of T helper 1 cells - with high levels of interleukin-2, interferon γ and tumor necrosis factor α - and are accompanied often by organ-specific and/or systemic damage and the production of IgG. Paradoxically, the geographical distributions of incidence of infectious diseases and autoimmunity are complementary, rather than coincident. In less-developed societies, an epidemiological association between susceptibility to infection and malnutrition has been observed, whereas in affluent countries, an increased incidence of autoimmune diseases has been described. We suggest that these observations can be explained partly by taking into consideration the immune effects of the adipocyte-derived hormone leptin, which has been shown recently to act as a link between nutritional status and the immune response.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036533493&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0036533493&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S1471-4906(02)02188-9
DO - 10.1016/S1471-4906(02)02188-9
M3 - Article
C2 - 11923112
AN - SCOPUS:0036533493
VL - 23
SP - 182
EP - 187
JO - Trends in Immunology
JF - Trends in Immunology
SN - 1471-4906
IS - 4
ER -