Several members of the tripartite motif (TRIM) protein family are involvedin antiviral activity and immunity and have been linked to severaldiseases. TRIM21, the main object of this thesis, is involved in Sjögrensyndrome (SS) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), where patientsoften have autoantibodies against different epitopes on TRIM21. Duringthe course of this study a role of TRIM21 in regulation of proinflammatorycytokines and autoimmunity emerged. The aim of this thesis is to providea better understanding of the structure-function relationship of TRIM21.A conformational epitope in the coiled-coil domain of TRIM21 has beencharacterized, whose autoantibodies cause congenital heart block. A widerange of biophysical methods were employed to establish a model of theprotein domain arrangement of TRIM21, and functional implications werederived. By sequence comparisons, TRIM proteins were classified into threesubgroups, sharing a conserved amphipathic helix in the region, linkingthe conserved N-terminal Zn2+-binding domains RING and B-box, calledthe RING-B-box linker (RBL). A structural dependence of this region on theRING has been observed and a model of the RING-RBL was derived frombioinformatics and proteolysis data. Anti-RING-RBL antibodies inhibit theE3 ligase activity of TRIM21 in ubiquitination. Interferon regulatory factors(IRFs), the substrate for TRIM21-dependent ubiquitination could thereforeretain their high cellular levels after stress-induced inflammation, increasingthe susceptibility to SS and SLE. According to NMR data, the antibodiesbind to the Zn2+-binding loop regions of the RING, which usually bind tothe E2 conjugating enzyme. Antibodies against the C-terminus of the RBLregion do not inhibit the E3 ligase activity.