Effector lymphocytes in autoimmunity

Autoimmune diseases result from complex interactions among different T- and B-lymphocyte subpopulations that target a rapidly growing number of autoan tigens on different cell types. The etiology of most spontaneous autoimmune disorders, and both the kinetics and hierarchy of the underlying autoimmun e responses are poorly understood. However, important advances have been ma de in recent years in our understanding of how autoreactive lymphocytes cau se tissue damage, including the discovery that granzyme B binds to a cell s urface receptor on target cells. This review is an attempt to summarize rec ent developments in this area.