| First Author | Peeva E | Year | 2006 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 177 |
| Issue | 3 | Pages | 1401-5 |
| PubMed ID | 16849443 | Mgi Jnum | J:137982 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3803518 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.177.3.1401 |
| Citation | Peeva E, et al. (2006) Cutting edge: lupus susceptibility interval Sle3/5 confers responsiveness to prolactin in C57BL/6 mice. J Immunol 177(3):1401-5 |
| abstractText | Prolactin is of interest in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) because almost 25% of SLE patients display hyperprolactinemia, and serum prolactin correlates with disease activity in some patients. Furthermore, hyperprolactinemia causes early mortality in lupus-prone mice and induces a lupus-like phenotype in nonspontaneously autoimmune mice. We show here that the immunomodulatory effects of prolactin are genetically determined; hyperprolactinemia breaks B cell tolerance and causes a lupus-like serology in BALB/c mice expressing a transgene encoding the H chain of an anti-DNA Ab but not in C57BL/6 transgenic mice. In C57BL/6 mice that express both the H chain transgene and the lupus susceptibility interval Sle3/5, prolactin induces increased serum titers of anti-DNA Ab and glomerular Ig depositions. The increase in costimulation due to prolactin-mediated up-regulation of both CD40 on B cells and CD40L on T cells would appear to play a central role in lupus induction in this model. |