Endogenous self-peptides guard immune privilege of the central nervous system

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kim, Min Woo; Gao, Wenqing; Lichti, Cheryl F.; Gu, Xingxing; Dykstra, Taitea; Cao, Jay; Smirnov, Igor; Boskovic, Pavle; Kleverov, Denis; Salvador, Andrea F. M.; Drieu, Antoine; Kim, Kyungdeok; Blackburn, Susan; Crewe, Clair; Artyomov, Maxim N.; Unanue, Emil R.; Kipnis, Jonathan
• 署名单位: Washington University (WUSTL); Washington University (WUSTL); Washington University (WUSTL); Washington University (WUSTL); Washington University (WUSTL); ITMO University; Washington University (WUSTL)
• 刊物名称: Nature
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0028-2110
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08279-y
• 发表日期: 2025-01-02
• 关键词: experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; multiple-sclerosis; t-cells; immunology; blood; lymph; mice

摘要

Despite the presence of strategically positioned anatomical barriers designed to protect the central nervous system (CNS), it is not entirely isolated from the immune system1,2. In fact, it remains physically connected to, and can be influenced by, the peripheral immune system1. How the CNS retains such responsiveness while maintaining an immunologically unique status remains an outstanding question. Here, in searching for molecular cues that derive from the CNS and enable its direct communication with the immune system, we identified an endogenous repertoire of CNS-derived regulatory self-peptides presented on major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II) molecules in the CNS and at its borders. During homeostasis, these regulatory self-peptides were found to be bound to MHC-II molecules throughout the path of lymphatic drainage from the brain to its surrounding meninges and its draining cervical lymph nodes. However, in neuroinflammatory disease, the presentation of regulatory self-peptides diminished. After boosting the presentation of these regulatory self-peptides, a population of suppressor CD4+ T cells was expanded, controlling CNS autoimmunity in a CTLA-4- and TGF beta-dependent manner. CNS-derived regulatory self-peptides may be the molecular key to ensuring a continuous dialogue between the CNS and the immune system while balancing overt autoreactivity. This sheds light on how we conceptually think about and therapeutically target neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases.