The role of NK cells in the development of autoantibodies

Abstract

The systemic lupus erythematosus (Sle1) interval from the NZM2410 mouse strain has been shown to be responsible for high levels of autoantibody production against antinuclear antibodies (ANA) when transferred into C57BL/6 mice. B cells derived from the B6.Sle1 strain are required for the production but help from both T-dependent and independent sources have been documented. Using radiation chimeras constructed in a strain of mice that is chronically depleted of Natural killer (NK) cells, but not NKT cells, we have examined the role of NK cells in the development of ANA in this context. Our results show that in the presence of intact T cell help depletion of NK cells does not affect ANA production. However, when T cell help is compromised, the prevalence of animals producing ANA is significantly decreased suggesting that NK cells can provide help for the T-independent production of ANA. Further experiments provide a possible mechanism for the NK-cell dependence.

Keywords::

• NK cells
• systemic lupus erythematosus
• antinuclear antibodies
• cytokines
• bone marrow chimeras

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Paula Jennings, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ for helpful discussions.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.