CD27 in clinical (neuro-)immunology

CD27 is an interesting lymphocyte specific member of the still growing TNF-R family, a group of molecules that are involved in the regulation of differentiation, activation and survival of lymphocytes. Some of these molecules have already been shown to play essential roles in autoimmunity and lymphoproliferation. The exact biological role of CD27 remains to be resolved, but it can be anticipated that it modulates antigen specific immune responses and that it is mainly functional in lymphoid tissue such as germinal centers. Study of the expression of CD27 and its ligand CD70 on lymphocytes can provide insight in different immunopathological conditions. Finally, measurement of sCD27 concentrations in body fluids can, on one hand, be used as a marker for immune activation in vivo and, on the other hand, serve as tumor marker for certain lymphoid malignancies.