TY - JOUR
T1 - The alchemy of immune privilege explored from a neuroimmunological perspective
AU - Arck, Petra Clara
AU - Gilhar, Amos
AU - Bienenstock, John
AU - Paus, Ralf
N1 - Funding Information:
Writing of this review and the authors’ own experimental work cited herein were made possible by grants provided by the German Research Foundation (DFG) to PCA and RP, by the AllerGen Network to JB and PCA, the Canada Research Chair Program to PCA, and by the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF) to RP.
PY - 2008/8
Y1 - 2008/8
N2 - The term 'immune privilege' (IP) generally describes the protection of vital structures, such as the brain, the eye, or the pregnant uterus, from the potentially damaging effects of an inflammatory immune response. Initially, barriers physically camouflaging such organs were thought to shield autoantigens from immune recognition and inflammation. This simplistic concept gave way to a much more complex understanding of IP, which reflects an entire network of interacting immunoregulatory processes and immunosuppressive microenvironments. Also, the number of organs and tissues that enjoy relative IP has grown considerably. This is not surprising since many different organs are constantly exposed to major, potentially damaging inflammatory events, for example, skin, gut, or lung-without evidence for excessive inflammation under physiological conditions. Focusing on fetotrophoblast IP as well as on hair-follicle-associated IP (an underappreciated, yet biologically fascinating, clinically important IP model), we summarize here key regulatory cues that operate in immunoprivileged tissues. Proposing novel concepts of how IP may collapse, for example, by exposure to psychosocial, stress-associated inflammation, we develop related strategies for how IP may be manipulated clinically so as to achieve IP protection and restoration.
AB - The term 'immune privilege' (IP) generally describes the protection of vital structures, such as the brain, the eye, or the pregnant uterus, from the potentially damaging effects of an inflammatory immune response. Initially, barriers physically camouflaging such organs were thought to shield autoantigens from immune recognition and inflammation. This simplistic concept gave way to a much more complex understanding of IP, which reflects an entire network of interacting immunoregulatory processes and immunosuppressive microenvironments. Also, the number of organs and tissues that enjoy relative IP has grown considerably. This is not surprising since many different organs are constantly exposed to major, potentially damaging inflammatory events, for example, skin, gut, or lung-without evidence for excessive inflammation under physiological conditions. Focusing on fetotrophoblast IP as well as on hair-follicle-associated IP (an underappreciated, yet biologically fascinating, clinically important IP model), we summarize here key regulatory cues that operate in immunoprivileged tissues. Proposing novel concepts of how IP may collapse, for example, by exposure to psychosocial, stress-associated inflammation, we develop related strategies for how IP may be manipulated clinically so as to achieve IP protection and restoration.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.coph.2008.06.003
DO - 10.1016/j.coph.2008.06.003
M3 - Review article
C2 - 18603017
AN - SCOPUS:51649130866
VL - 8
SP - 480
EP - 489
JO - Current Opinion in Pharmacology
JF - Current Opinion in Pharmacology
SN - 1471-4892
IS - 4
ER -