Page 42 - The autoimmune hypothesis of narcolepsy and its unexplored clinical features M.S. Schinkelshoek
P. 42
Chapter 3
Abstract
Following the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, an increased risk of narcolepsy type 1 was observed. Homology between an H1N1 hemagglutinin and two hypocretin sequences has been reported.
T cell reactivity to these peptides was assessed in 81 narcolepsy type 1 patients and 19 HLA-DQ6-matched healthy controls. HLA-DQ6-restricted H1N1 hemagglutinin-specific T cell responses were detected in 28.4% of patients and 15.8% of controls. Despite structural homology between HLA-DQ6-hypocretin and -H1N1 peptide complexes, T cell cross-reactivity was not detected.
These results indicate that it is unlikely that cross-reactivity between H1N1 hemagglutinin and hypocretin peptides presented by HLA-DQ6 is involved in the development of narcolepsy type 1.
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