Ken Kamata, Akane Hara, Kosuke Minaga, Tomoe Yoshikawa, Masayuki Kurimoto, Ikue Sekai, Natsuki Okai, Naoya Omaru, Yasuhiro Masuta, Yasuo Otsuka, Ryutaro Takada, Shiki Takamura, Masatoshi Kudo, Warren Strober, Tomohiro Watanabe
The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor expressed in hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic cells. Activation of the AhR by xenobiotics, microbial metabolites, and natural substances induces immunoregulatory responses. Autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is a chronic fibroinflammatory disorder of the pancreas driven by autoimmunity. Although AhR activation generally suppresses pathogenic autoimmune responses, the roles played by the AhR in AIP have been poorly defined. In this study, we examined how AhR activation affected the development of experimental AIP caused by the activation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells producing IFN-α and IL-33...
May 11, 2023: Clinical and Experimental Immunology