Mimicry, molecular

Smiley, J.D. Hoffman, W.L. (1991). The role of infections in the rheumatic diseases molecular mimicry between bacterial and human stress proteins Am. J. Med. Sci. 301, 138-149. 

Aliberti J, Valenzuela JG, Carruthers VB, et al. Molecular mimicry of a CCR5 binding-domain in the microbial activation of dendritic cells. Nat Immunol 2003 4(5) 485 190. 

Simmons-Willis, T. A., et al. Transport of a neurotoxicant by molecular mimicry the methylmercury-l-cysteine complex is a substrate for human L-type large neutral amino acid transporter (LAT) 1 and LAT2. Biochem. J. 2002, 367, 239-246. 

The mechanism most commonly invoked to explain the association of infection with autoimmune disease is molecular mimicry that is, the concept that antigens (or more properly, epitopes) of the microorganism closely resemble self-antigens.50 The induction of an immune response to the microbial antigen thus results in cross-reactivity with selfantigens and the induction of autoimmunity. Although epitope specific cross-reactivity has been shown in some animal models,48,51 53 molecular mimicry is clearly demonstrated to be the causative mechanism in few, if any, human diseases.3 54,55... 

Horwitz, M.S. et al., Diabetes induced by coxsackievirus Initiation by bystander damage and not molecular mimicry, Nature Med., 4, 781, 1998. 

Olson, J.K. et al., A virus-induced molecular mimicry model of multiple sclerosis, J. Clin. 

Rose, N.R. and Mackay, I.R., Molecular mimicry A critical look at exemplary instances in human diseases, Cell. Mol. Life Sci., 57, 542, 2000. 

There is considerable interest in the role of infectious agents in the development of autoimmune diseases. Some of this interest is based on the concept of molecular mimicry as a causal mechanism. Molecular mimicry refers to the possible pathologic role of cross-reactive antibodies or T cells to a self-antigen that is structurally similar to, and thus shares epitopes with, a viral or other infectious agent. For most autoimmune diseases, however, evidence of molecular mimicry leading to disease is not conclusive.1819 Viruses and other infections also have a less-specific immune effect, stimulating toll-like receptors and proinflammatory cytokine secretion, which is another mechanism that has been postulated to influence autoimmune disease risk.20... 

Before the elucidation of the CAR X-ray crystal structure, modeling studies mainly focused on the constitutive activity of the receptor. For example, homology modeling along with molecular dynamics simulations was combined to identify critical amino acid residues responsible for the constitutive activation [43]. Especially, the role of Tyr326 as a molecular mimicry of a bound ligand in the interaction with the AF-2 helix was underscored. Mutational analyses and the later elucidation of the human CAR X-ray crystal structure confirmed an important role of this amino acid for the receptor s constitutive activity [41,44]. 

Taken together, these results suggest that molecular recognition of the dodecapeptide by antibodies differs from its recognition by concanavahn A, and that the immunological cross-reactivity observed in some studies does not reflect structural mimicry. That molecular recognition by concanavalin A of carbohydrates and peptides differs has also been shown in structural studies. Here, the functional molecular mimicry observed with respect to different receptors should not be assumed to imply structural mimicry—the inter-molecular interactions may differ in each case. 

Cunningham MW, Fujinami RS (eds) (2000) Molecular mimicry, microbes, and autoimmunity. ASM Press, Washington, DC... 

Shikhman AR, Cunningham MW (1994) J Immunol 152 4375 Cunningham MW (2000) Molecular mimicry between streptococcal M protein and cardiac myosin and the immunopathogenesis of rheumatic fever. In Cunningham MW, Fujinami RS (eds) Molecular mimicry, microbes, and autoimmunity. ASM Press, Washington, DC, pp 39-56... 

Moore, P. S., Boshoff, C., Weiss, R. A., and Chang, Y. (1996) Molecular mimicry of human cytokine and cytokine response pathway genes by KSHV. Science. 274, 1739-1744. 

It is known as Guillain-Barre syndrome. It is named after the French neurologists G. Guillain and A. Barre. Guillain-Barre syndrome is, therefore, an example of molecular mimicry. 

Narayanan, S., Molecular mimicry Basis for autoimmunity. Indian J. Clin. Biochem. 15 (suppl.), 78-82 (2000). 

Although abundant evidence supports the existence of snch an antoimmnne phenomenon, the causative event that heralds this self-directed immune-mediated attack remains uncertain. A number of mechanisms have been proposed to afford a molecular-level explanation of autoimmunity. One such explanation is molecular mimicry. Molecular mimicry occurs when a protein associated with a foreign substance bears structural similarities to a protein found in the host. For example, if a person experiences an infection from bacteria, there is a possibility that a protein in the bacterium shares certain similar geometrical and conformational features with a protein already existing in the person. Thus, an immune response directed against the bacteria will cross-react with organs in the host organism. 

Alderete JF, Millsap KW, Lehker MW, Benchimol M (2001) Enzymes on microbial pathogens and Trichomonas vaginalis molecular mimicry and functional diversity. Cell Microbiol 3 359-370... 

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