Hence, BAFF-targeting therapy by blocking of BAFF activity with antagonists are promising therapeutic reagents currently under clinical trials for treating B-cell-related autoimmune

diseases, especially rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus [32]. Moreover, in patients with coeliac disease, serum BAFF levels correlated with anti-transglutaminase check details antibody levels, and a significant reduction in BAFF was observed after a gluten-free diet [7]. Changes in BAFF levels may thus be valuable for the follow-up of patients with coeliac disease after gluten-free diet, leading to the optimization of repeated small bowel biopsies. Autoimmune myasthenia gravis is a B-cell-mediated disease in which the target autoantigen is the acetylcholine receptor at the neuromuscular

Selleck PD98059 junction [33]. Patients with autoimmune myasthenia gravis were compared with multiple sclerosis (an immune-mediated disease with a major role for a T-cell-initiated pathogenesis) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a non-immune-mediated peripheral nervous system neurodegenerative disease) patients and healthy subjects. Serum BAFF levels were significantly increased in patients with myasthenia gravis, but not in the other diseases, suggesting a role of BAFF in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis, possibly by promoting the survival and maturation of autoreactive B cells [23]. A link between BAFF and organ-specific autoimmune diseases is shown in several

Lck studies. In autoimmune hepatitis, a hepatocyte-directed inflammation of the liver [34] with lymphocytic, often lymphoplasmacytic, inflammatory infiltrates extend from portal tracts into the parenchymal tissue inducing hepatocyte injury [35]. Both Th1 and Th2 pathways are involved in the pathogenesis of this disease where Th2 cytokines lead to the production of autoantibodies against hepatocytes and Th1 cytokines contribute to hepatocyte damage [36, 37]. Migita et al. thus reported significantly increased serum levels of BAFF in patients with autoimmune hepatitis when compared with healthy subjects and other types of hepatitis. In addition, BAFF levels were correlated with levels of transaminase, total bilirubin and soluble CD30, suggesting a role of BAFF in liver injury and disease development. Consistently, corticosteroid treatment resulted in marked reduction in serum BAFF concentrations [24]. Similar findings were shown in patients with PBC [25]. Recently, an increased frequency of IL-17-producing cells in liver tissues of PBC patients has been demonstrated. Even though the mechanism behind the IL-17 induction in PBC is unclear, excess BAFF may contribute to the production of autoantibodies in PBC [38, 39].