Molecular mimicry between self and microbial components has been proposed as the pathogenic mechanism of autoimmune diseases, and this hypothesis is proven in Guillain-Barré syndrome. Guillain-Barré syndrome, the most frequent cause of acute neuromuscular paralysis, sometimes occurs after Campylobacter jejuni enteritis. Gangliosides are predominantly cell-surface glycolipids highly expressed in...

Introduction Independent molecules are expected to possess distinct three-dimensional structures. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that diverse biological molecules, particularly proteins, do not have entirely unrelated structural architectures, even when their functions are independent. It is apparent that the protein structural repertoire is generated from a finite number of struc...

Two main etiological components are considered important in human autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS), first the immunogenetic background and second environmental factors. Among the latter, infectious organisms are probably the most relevant, and epidemiological studies in MS firmly support that viral infections often precede disease exacerbations or the onset of MS. Infectiou...

Adaptive immunity provides the unique ability to respond to a nearly infinite range of antigenic determinants. Given the inherent plasticity of the adaptive immune system, a series of tolerance mechanisms exist to reduce reactivity toward self. While this reduces the probability of autoimmunity, it also creates an important gap in adaptive immunity: the ability to recognize microbes that look l...

Bacterial molecular mimicry in autoimmune diseases is one of the leading mechanisms by which microorganisms may induce autoimmunity and survive host. The main purpose current study was to determine microbes that elicit reactions through identify most relevant approaches investigate this mechanism. A classic example M protein Streptococcus pyogenes, induces antibody cross-reactivity with a cardi...