I read with interest the article by M.S. Kim and T.S. Kim (1), in which the authors demonstrate that AIMP1 activates B cells and promotes Ag-specific production of Ab. Certain patients suffer from antisynthetase syndrome, an illness characterized by muscle and skin inflammation accompanied by interstitial lung disease, together with autoantibodies to specific tRNA aminoacyl transferases (2). The discovery that AIMP1, with its property of binding to aminoacyl transferases, is a potent B cell activator suggests a possible mechanism for self-immunization in antisynthetase syndrome and may lead to testable hypotheses.
References
1
Kim
M. S.
, Kim
T. S.
. 2015
. Aminoacyl tRNA synthetase–interacting multifunctional protein 1 acts as a novel B cell–activating factor in vitro and in vivo
. J. Immunol.
194
: 4729
–4736
.2
Mahler
M.
, Miller
F. W.
, Fritzler
M. J.
. 2014
. Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and the anti-synthetase syndrome: a comprehensive review
. Autoimmun. Rev.
13
: 367
–371
.Copyright © 2015 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.
2015
Copyright © 2015 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.