Analysis of B cell autoepitopes and mechanisms for autoantibody production in autoimmune diseases

One of the representative immunological disorders in systemic autoimmune diseases is production of autoantibodies. Recent studies were concentrated on B cell epitopes of intranuclear autoantigens using recombinant proteins. They revealed autoepitopes homologous to those on exogenous agents and multiple epitopes, which respectively indicated molecular mimicry and antigen-driven immune responses as a mechanism for autoantibody production. Further, some autoantigens are thought to be catalyzed in a disease-specific manner. These antigen-specific factors would contribute to the autoantibody production, cooperating with antigen-nonspecific factors such as polyclonal B cell activation, overexpression of cytokines and dysfunction of T cells and antigen presenting cells.