Browsing by Author "Speeti, Maria"

The autoimmune polyendocrinopathy candidiasis ectodermal dystrophy (APECED), caused by mutations in the autoimmune regulator (AIRE) impairing the development of T cell tolerance, is characterized by damage towards multiple endocrine and cutaneous tissues, driven by autoreactive T cells and autoantibodies. Furthermore, neutralizing autoantibodies towards type I interferons (IFNs), which are thought to be crucial in the immune modulating function of the skin, are found in practically all APECED patients. Although the expression and role of thymic AIRE have been widely studied, the extra-thymic role of AIRE remains unclear. Previous studies suggest that AIRE is expressed in skin keratinocytes in association with cytokeratin K17 and that AIRE-expressing skin tissue cultivations can thymus-independently facilitate the formation of functional self-tolerant T cells highlighting the importance of skin for immune tolerance. The goal of this research was to study the co-expression of AIRE and K17 or IFNα2 in cultivated primary keratinocytes from healthy individuals and in HaCaT cells through immunohistochemistry to better understand the role of cutaneous AIRE. The results show that AIRE is indeed co-expressed in human keratinocytes where it contributes in a yet unknown manner to the function of these cells.