Do Immune Complexes Formed with Autoantibodies Have a Role in the Maintenance of Immune Homeostasis Through Interaction with FC Receptors

Abstract

Natural autoantibodies play an important regulatory role in the maintenance of immune homeostasis. They act as a first line of defense against environmental pathogens like toxins, bacteria and erythrocytes. In humans they are mainly produced by CD5+ B cells that are under the control of a regulatory T cell population. Fc-γ receptors are involved in antigen recognition and signal transduction and tuning, and some of the members of the FcR family have structural similarity to MHC molecules; they may interact with multiple Ig ligands and with non-Ig ligands.

We discuss the interactions between immune-complexes formed with natural autoantibodies and Fc-γ receptors and suggest that such interactions may affect self-recognition in the thymus and regulate immune homeostasis

Key Words:

• Autoimmunity
• Natural antibodies
• Autoantibodies
• Immune complexes
• Fc receptor