Università della Svizzera italiana

Experimental priming of encephalitogenic Th1/Th17 cells requires pertussis toxin-driven IL-1β production by myeloid cells

Ronchi, Francesca ; Basso, Camilla ; Preite, Silvia ; Reboldi, Andrea ; Baumjohann, Dirk ; Perlini, Luana ; Lanzavecchia, Antonio ; Sallusto, Federica

In: Nature communications, 2016, vol. 7, p. 11541

CD4+ Th17 are heterogeneous in terms of cytokine production and capacity to initiate autoimmune diseases, such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Here we demonstrate that experimental priming of encephalitogenic Th cells expressing RORγt and T-bet and producing IL-17A, IFN-γ and GM-CSF but not IL-10 (Th1/Th17), is dependent on the presence of pertussis toxin (PTX) at the...

Università della Svizzera italiana

Neutralization and clearance of GM-CSF by autoantibodies in pulmonary alveolar proteinosis

Piccoli, Luca ; Campo, Ilaria ; Fregni, Chiara Silacci ; Fernandez Rodriguez, Blanca Maria ; Minola, Andrea ; Sallusto, Federica ; Luisetti, Maurizio ; Corti, Davide ; Lanzavecchia, Antonio

In: Nature communications, 2015, vol. 6, p. 7375

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a severe autoimmune disease caused by autoantibodies that neutralize GM-CSF resulting in impaired function of alveolar macrophages. In this study, we characterize 21 GM-CSF autoantibodies from PAP patients and find that somatic mutations critically determine their specificity for the self-antigen. Individual antibodies only partially neutralize GM-CSF...