Novel autoimmune phenomena induced in vivo by a new DNA binding protein Nuc: a study on MRL/n mice.
We previously purified a 55 kDa protein that preferentially expands anti-DNA antibody production both in vitro and in vivo across the H-2 barrier from culture supernatants of KML1-7 cells, cloned from a lupus-prone MRL/lpr mouse. By using the purified protein, termed nucleobindin ( Nuc), we cloned cDNA and produced recombinant(r) Nuc in Escherichia coli. To elucidate the function of rNuc in vivo, we initially injected intraperitoneally 5 micrograms of rNuc without adjuvant into female MRL/n mice at 8 weeks of age and continued injection twice a week. As early as 5 weeks after administration, all mice treated showed an increase in IgG anti-double stranded (ds) DNA antibodies accompanied by IgG hypergammaglobulinemia (HG). Of particular interest was that these mice also produced anti-U1RNP antibodies and rheumatoid factor (RF) of IgG class, but not anti-Sm antibodies. Histopathologically, hypercellularity with occasional crescents in the glomeruli was observed, but evidence for lupus nephritis was lacking, indicating that some factors other than Nuc are necessary for the development of a lupus syndrome observed in MRL/lpr mice. Similar administration of lipopolysaccharide into MRL/n mice failed to induce autoantibodies except for a slight increase in serum IgG, suggesting that these autoimmune responses are not due simply to polyclonal B-cell activation. The presence of rNuc will give us a clue for further understanding of autoimmunity.[1]References
- Novel autoimmune phenomena induced in vivo by a new DNA binding protein Nuc: a study on MRL/n mice. Kanai, Y., Takeda, O., Kanai, Y., Miura, K., Kurosawa, Y. Immunol. Lett. (1993) [Pubmed]
Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenesOpen Access LicencePrivacy PolicyTerms of Useapsburg
