Thymoma and autoimmunity

The thymus is a central lymphatic organ that is responsible for many immunological functions, including the production of mature, functional T cells and the induction of self-tolerance. Benign or malignant tumors may originate from the thymus gland, with thymoma being the most common and accounting...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cellular & molecular immunology 2011-05, Vol.8 (3), p.199-202
Main Authors: Shelly, Shahar, Agmon-Levin, Nancy, Altman, Arie, Shoenfeld, Yehuda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Antibodies
Antidiuretics
Aplasia
Autoimmune diseases
Autoimmune Diseases - immunology
Autoimmune Diseases - pathology
Autoimmunity
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Cell Differentiation
Humans
Immunological tolerance
Immunology
Lymphocytes
Lymphocytes T
Malignancy
Medical Microbiology
Microbiology
Myasthenia
Myasthenia gravis
Neuromuscular junctions
Pemphigus
Pernicious anemia
Review
Self Tolerance
Systemic lupus erythematosus
T-Lymphocytes - immunology
T-Lymphocytes - pathology
Thymoma
Thymoma - immunology
Thymoma - pathology
Thymus
Thymus gland
Thymus Gland - immunology
Thymus Neoplasms - immunology
Thymus Neoplasms - pathology
Thyroid diseases
Tumors
Vaccine
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Summary:The thymus is a central lymphatic organ that is responsible for many immunological functions, including the production of mature, functional T cells and the induction of self-tolerance. Benign or malignant tumors may originate from the thymus gland, with thymoma being the most common and accounting for 50% of anterior mediastinal tumors. Malignancies linked to thymoma include the loss of self-tolerance and the presence of autoimmunity. In this review, we compiled the current scientific evidence detailing the various interactions between thymoma and autoimmune diseases, including myasthenia gravis, systemic lupus erythematosus, inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion, pure red cell aplasia, pernicious anemia, pemphigus and autoimmune thyroid diseases. In recent years, several mechanisms have been proposed to explain these interactions. Most are based on the assumption that the ‘sick’ thymus, like the ‘normal’ thymus, can generate mature T cells; however, the T cells generated by the sick thymus are impaired and thus may exert cellular autoreactivity. Here, we present several theories that may shed light on the loss of self-tolerance associated with this epithelial tumor of the thymus.
ISSN:1672-7681
2042-0226
DOI:10.1038/cmi.2010.74