Immune recognition and response to the renal interstitium

Advances in cellular and molecular immunology over the past decade have revolutionized the way we think about interactions between the immune system and parenchymal tissues. The availability of well characterized experimental models of organ-specific or systemic autoimmunity has allowed advances in basic immunology to be incorporated into understanding the basis for deviant immune responses resulting in host injury, as well as the mechanisms of tolerance to organ-specific antigens [1–5]. This review outlines a framework analysis for understanding how the immune system interacts with the interstitial compartment of the kidney. This framework is comprised of four sections. The first details requirements for the induction of immune responses, including antigen expression in the kidney and how such antigen is presented to the immune system. The second section summarizes work from both experimental models and human studies which have characterized cell-mediated immune responses in interstitial disease [6]. The third section is an update of the antibody response to interstitial antigens, as well as the role of antibody in the effector limb of the immune response, an area which has been previously reviewed extensively [3,4]. The final section discusses how immune responses to interstitial antigens are typically regulated, either by the host or through external manipulations, such that tolerance to organ-specific antigens is maintained [7–9]