ISSN: 2161-1149 (Printed)
Azam Samei, Hossein Motedayyen, Mohammad Javad Mousavi, Somayeh Ghotloo
Prolactin is a hormone with various immunomodulatory activities including induction of lymphocyte proliferation, cytokine production and antibody generation. Current literature provides undoubted evidence for the contribution of prolactin in the pathogenesis of rheumatic autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) and female female bias of autoimmunity. In the present mini-review, contribution of prolactin to the pathogenesis of autoimmunity through breakdown of B cell tolerance will be discussed.