“Our results reveal further insights into the immunobiology of muscle and has implications for therapeutical considerations.”

HLA-G is an emerging major histocompatibility molecule (non-classical MHC molecule), whose involvement in the mechanisms of tolerance and autoimmunity is increasingly being recognized. The paper elucidates the functional role of HLA-G expression in muscle and has major implications for the immunobiology of muscle and for the understanding of (autoimmune) inflammation in this tissue.

No, but the findings give functional insights into the role of HLA-G in inflammatory muscle disorders and/or in muscle immunobiology in general.

A substantial number of reports continue to demonstrate that the immune biological role of HLA-G is broader than was previously assumed. Detection of HLA-G expression at immune privileged sites such as the CNS and muscle under different immunopathological conditions emphasizes this notion. In this paper we have assigned a functional role to the expression of HLA-G, which expression we have firstly described in (autoimmune) inflammatory disorders of the muscle (Wiendl et al., Ann Neurol 2000). In essence, HLA-G has an important immune-inhibitory role for muscle–immune cell interactions and may therefore be considered as a crucial mechanism in how muscle cells counterbalance the immune damage in inflammatory disorders of the muscle. Our results reveal further insights into the immunobiology of muscle and have implications for therapeutical considerations. Our results suggest that the ectopic expression of HLA-G may promote the survival of transplanted myoblasts in the future treatment of hereditary muscle diseases. Furthermore, HLA-G could represent a novel self-derived anti-inflammatory principle applicable in strategies against inflammatory aggression.