Leader
Rheumatoid arthritis and Epstein-Barr virus: a case of living with the enemy?
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
 |
Article |
|---|
The cause of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) still eludes us, though
we know from twin studies that both genetic and environmental factors
are important contributory components to disease
susceptibility1; the latter is estimated to account for
about one half of this risk.2 At least one major RA
susceptibility gene resides within the major histocompatibility complex
(MHC) region. Current dogma is that this is explained by a conserved
sequence of amino acids within the third hypervariable region of the
DRB1 
chain molecule encoded by a number of alleles. This is usually
referred to as being the RA shared epitope hypothesis.3
Although DRB1 molecules present peptide fragments to T cell receptors
on CD4 positive lymphocytes, the exact mechanism through which the RA
shared epitope exerts its effect remains unclear.4 Given
that class II molecules such as DRB1 serve an immunoregulatory role, it
is not surprising that polymorphisms within these structures will
influence
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Martinez, A, Varade, J, Lamas, J R, Fernandez-Arquero, M, Jover, J A, de la Concha, E G, Fernandez-Gutierrez, B, Urcelay, E
(2008). Association of the IFIH1-GCA-KCNH7 chromosomal region with rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis
67: 137-138
[Full Text] -
Guthridge, J. M., Young, K., Gipson, M. G., Sarrias, M.-R., Szakonyi, G., Chen, X. S., Malaspina, A., Donoghue, E., James, J. A., Lambris, J. D., Moir, S. A., Perkins, S. J., Holers, V. M.
(2001). Epitope Mapping Using the X-Ray Crystallographic Structure of Complement Receptor Type 2 (CR2)/CD21: Identification of a Highly Inhibitory Monoclonal Antibody That Directly Recognizes the CR2-C3d Interface. J. Immunol.
167: 5758-5766
[Abstract] [Full Text] -
HUTCHINSON, D, MOOTS, R, HELIÖVAARA, M, AHO, K, KNEKT, P, REUNANEN, A, AROMAA, A, IMPIVAARA, O
(2001). Coffee consumption, RF, and the risk of RA. Ann Rheum Dis
60: 540a-541
[Full Text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
-
Immunology (including allergy)
-
Connective tissue disease
-
Degenerative joint disease
-
Musculoskeletal syndromes
-
Rheumatoid arthritis
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
