Open AccessImmunogenetics of epitopes of the carboxyl terminus of the human 60‐kD Ro autoantigen
Author(s) -
SCOFIELD R. H.,
DICKEY W. D.,
HARDGRAVE K. L.,
NEAS B. R.,
HOROWITZ R. M.,
MCARTHUR R. A.,
FUJISAK A.,
FRANK M. B.,
HARLEY J. B.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
clinical & experimental immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 135
eISSN - 1365-2249
pISSN - 0009-9104
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1995.tb05542.x
Subject(s) - epitope , autoantibody , antibody , ribonucleoprotein , allotype , human leukocyte antigen , biology , immunology , allele , autoimmunity , microbiology and biotechnology , immunogenetics , antigen , gene , genetics , rna
SUMMARY Systemic lupus erythematosus is associated with the presence of autoantibodies which bind several ribonucleoproteins, including Ro (or SS‐A). We have explored the relationship of the HLA‐DQ and T cell receptor alleles in patients producing autoantibodies binding the 13‐kD carboxyl terminus fragment of the 60‐kD Ro and with autoantibodies binding a peptide epitope within this fragment (amino acid residues 480 494). Antibodies binding the 13‐kD fragment are more likely to be found in the sera of patients with particular DQA1 and DQB1 alleles, while antibodies binding the epitope at 480–494 are found almost exclusively in the sera of patients with a Bg /II 9–8‐kb polymorphism of the T cell receptor β gene. Meanwhile, in these same patient sera the level of autoantibodies binding the complete 60‐kD Ro particle is associated with a distinct pattern of alleles at these same immunoregulatory loci. These data demonstrate that component parts of autoantibody responses may be under genetic control which can be distinguished from the HLA associations characteristic of the response to the intact, complete autoantigen.