Immunopathogenesis of granulomas in chronic autoinflammatory diseases

Review

Citation: Clinical & Translational Immunology (2016) 5, e118; doi:10.1038/cti.2016.75
Published online 16 December 2016

OPEN

Wilhelmina Maria Cornelia Timmermans^1,2,3, Jan Alexander Michael van Laar^1,2, Petrus Martinus van Hagen^1,2 and Menno Cornelis van Zelm³

1. ¹Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2. ²Department of Immunology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
3. ³Department of Immunology and Pathology, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

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Abstract

Granulomas are clusters of immune cells. These structures can be formed in reaction to infection and display signs of necrosis, such as in tuberculosis. Alternatively, in several immune disorders, such as sarcoidosis, Crohn’s disease and common variable immunodeficiency, non-caseating granulomas are formed without an obvious infectious trigger. Despite advances in our understanding of the human immune system, the pathogenesis underlying these non-caseating granulomas in chronic inflammatory diseases is still poorly understood. Here, we review the current knowledge about the immunopathogenesis of granulomas, and we discuss how the involved immune cells can be targeted with novel therapeutics.

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• Abstract
• Introduction
• Chronic autoinflammatory diseases with granuloma formation
• Key players in granuloma pathogenesis
• Therapeutic implications
• Conclusions
• Conflict of interest
• References
• Acknowledgements
• Figures and Tables

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