SLE is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease characterized by a breakdown of tolerance to nuclear antigens and generation of high-affinity pathogenic autoantibodies. These autoantibodies form, with autoantigens, immune complexes that are involved in organ and tissue damages. Understanding how the production of these pathogenic autoantibodies arises is of prime importance. T follicular helper cells (Tfh) and IL-21 have emerged as central players in this process. This article reviews the pathogenic role of Tfh cells and IL-21 in SLE.
Keywords: B lymphocyte; IL-21; T lymphocyte; TNFSF4; antigen-presenting cell; autoimmunity; co-stimulatory molecule; immunoglobulins; lupus; pathogenesis.
© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.