Review Article

Role of PIR-B in Autoimmune Glomerulonephritis

Figure 1

Proposed mechanism for PIR-B-mediated regulation of TLR9-induced autoantibody production in B-1 cells. Unmethylated CpG-harboring DNA of bacterial and viral origin stimulates TLR9 in the endosomal compartments of various cells including B-1 cells via signal relay from MyD88, IRAK, and TRAF6, and then IκB phosphorylation, nuclear translocation of NF-κB, and initiation of the transcription of various mRNAs of innate responses, including those for autoreactive natural antibodies. Excess activation of the TLR9 system is thus potentially harmful, because excessive production of autoreactive IgM and, particularly, that switched to IgG might cause autoimmune disease. TLR9 in B-1 cells is regulated by PIR-B via Btk intersection, in which the phosphorylation of PIR-B is augmented immediately through TLR9-initiated Lyn activation, and the concomitantly enhanced SHP-1 recruitment to the phospho-ITIMs of PIR-B leads to accelerated dephosphorylation of Btk, which then attenuates the phosphorylation level of NF-κB p65RelA. Constitutive association of PIR-B with MHCI in cis on the surface of B-1 cells may be crucial for maintaining the TLR9 cascade being not overactivated, and once activated by CpG, immediate early suppression will occur via augmented SHP-1 recruitment to PIR-B-MHCI.
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