Open AccessPresence of antibodies to ubiquitin during the autoimmune response associated with systemic lupus erythematosus.
Author(s) -
Sylviane Muller,
JeanPaul Briand,
M.H.V. Van Regenmortel
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.011
H-Index - 771
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.85.21.8176
Subject(s) - ubiquitin , antibody , systemic lupus erythematosus , autoimmune disease , immunology , lupus erythematosus , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , medicine , biochemistry , gene , pathology , disease
Sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were shown to react with both ubiquitin and a synthetic fragment of it (residues 22-45) in an ELISA and with ubiquitin in immunoblotting experiments. Close to 80% of lupus patients possessed ubiquitin antibodies, whereas only 55% of them possessed native DNA antibodies, a marker of SLE. Less than 16% of patients with other rheumatic autoimmune diseases possessed antibodies to ubiquitin. Our results indicate that the combined measurement of antibodies to native DNA and to ubiquitin could appreciably increase the detection of SLE cases (up to 85% in our study). It is suggested that ubiquitin, a heat shock protein, could be involved in antibody formation against ubiquitin-protein conjugates present during cellular injury and that this represents a major characteristic of the autoimmune response in SLE.