Università della Svizzera italiana

Rag defects and thymic stroma : lessons from animal models

Marrella, Veronica ; Poliani, Pietro Luigi ; Notarangelo, Luigi Daniele ; Grassi, Fabio ; Villa, Anna

In: Frontiers in immunology, 2014, vol. 5, p. 259

Thymocytes and thymic epithelial cells (TECs) cross-talk is essential to support T cell development and preserve thymic architecture and maturation of TECs and Foxp3+ natural regulatory T cells. Accordingly, disruption of thymic lymphostromal cross-talk may have major implications on the thymic mechanisms that govern T cell tolerance. Several genetic defects have been described in humans that...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Homeostatic expansion of autoreactive immunoglobulin-secreting cells in the Rag2 mouse model of Omenn syndrome

Cassani, Barbara ; Poliani, Pietro Luigi ; Marrella, Veronica ; Schena, Francesca ; Sauer, Aisha V. ; Ravanini, Maria ; Strina, Dario ; Busse, Christian E. ; Regenass, Stephan ; Wardemann, Hedda ; Martini, Alberto ; Facchetti, Fabio ; Burg, Mirjam van der ; Rolink, Antonius G. ; Vezzoni, Paolo ; Grassi, Fabio ; Traggiai, Elisabetta ; Villa, Anna

In: Journal of experimental medicine, 2010, vol. 207, no. 7, p. 1525-1540

Hypomorphic RAG mutations, leading to limited V(D)J rearrangements, cause Omenn syndrome (OS), a peculiar severe combined immunodeficiency associated with autoimmune-like manifestations. Whether B cells play a role in OS pathogenesis is so far unexplored. Here we report the detection of plasma cells in lymphoid organs of OS patients, in which circulating B cells are undetectable. Hypomorphic...