Immune System Response to Hsp 60

Kamphuis, S., Kuis, W., deJager, W., Teklenburg, G., Massa, M., Gordon, G., Boerhof, M., Rijkers, G.T., Uiterwaal, C.S., Otten, H.G., Sette, A., Albani, S., Prakken, B.J. (2005). Tolerogenic immune responses to novel T-cell epitopes from heat-shock protein 60 in juvenile idiopathic arthritis. www.thelancet.com, 366, 50-56.

Kamphuis et al. (2005) conducted a study on the effects of heat shock proteins (HSP60) when introduced to subjects or patients suffering from juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Their interest and hypothesis was due to the positive results seen when these proteins were introduced to those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. Researchers analyzed patterns of T-cell responses caused by HSP60 in 57 patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis while comparing them to controls.

Total test subjects numbered 104. Blood samples were taken from the 57 arthritics, 20 with juvenile onset diabetes, and 27 “healthy” children. Researchers used matrix based computer algorithms to select four pairs of potential HSP60 epitopes. Antigen specific activity of what researchers refer to