The autoimmune diseases result from inappropriate responses of the immune system to self antigens. The etiology of autoimmune diseases remains largely unknown but candidate etiologic factors include genetic abnormalities and infections. Although there are considerable data supporting the role of infections in a variety of autoimmune diseases, this role has been unequivocally established in only...

Molecular mimicry of host proteins is a common strategy adopted by bacterial pathogens to interfere with and exploit host processes. Despite the availability of pathogen genomes, few studies have attempted to predict virulence-associated mimicry relationships directly from genomic sequences. Here, we analyzed the proteomes of 62 pathogenic and 66 non-pathogenic bacterial species, and screened f...

The hypothesis that cross-reactivity between microbial and self determinants recognized by the adaptive immune system could induce autoimmune diseases is very intriguing. However, definite proof in humans is very difficult to achieve and evidence is frequently circumstantial. Therefore, animal models are instrumental for understanding, how and when mimicry could be involved in the pathogenesis ...