Search results for "Autoantigens"
showing 10 items of 121 documents
Occurrence of Retinal Ganglion Cell Loss via Autophagy and Apoptotic Pathways in an Autoimmune Glaucoma Model
2020
In glaucoma, an apoptotic death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) has been shown. However, little is known about other cell death mechanisms, like autophagy or necrosis. Therefore, we investigated these mechanisms in addition to antibody deposits in an experimental autoimmune glaucoma model.Rats were immunized with a retinal ganglion cell-layer homogenate (RGA), while controls received sodium chloride. Untreated rats served as natїve group. After seven weeks, retinal cross-sections were stained with antibodies against RGCs (Brn-3a), apoptosis (cleaved caspase 2, cleaved caspase 3 as well as caspase 3, 8, and 9), autophagy (LC3BII and LAMP1), and necrosis (RIPK3) followed by cell counts. Auto…
Retinal ganglion cell loss is accompanied by antibody depositions and increased levels of microglia after immunization with retinal antigens.
2012
BackgroundAntibodies against retinal and optic nerve antigens are detectable in glaucoma patients. Recent studies using a model of experimental autoimmune glaucoma demonstrated that immunization with certain ocular antigens causes an immun-mediated retinal ganglion cell loss in rats.Methodology/principal findingsRats immunized with a retinal ganglion cell layer homogenate (RGA) had a reduced retinal ganglion cell density on retinal flatmounts (p = 0.007) and a lower number of Brn3(+) retinal ganglion cells (p = 0.0001) after six weeks. The autoreactive antibody development against retina and optic nerve was examined throughout the study. The levels of autoreactive antibodies continuously in…
Analysis of Autoantibody Repertoires in Sera of Patients with Glaucoma
2003
PURPOSE Glaucoma is the second cause of blindness worldwide. It is usually considered a neurodegenerative disease. There is evidence that an autoimmune mechanism is involved in the development of glaucoma in some patients. The aim of this study was to analyze the IgG autoantibody repertoires in sera of glaucoma patients and healthy subjects. METHODS A total of 82 patients were divided into four groups: healthy volunteers without any ocular disorders (CO, n = 30), patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG, n = 19), ocular hypertension (OHT, n = 16), and normal tension glaucoma (NTG, n = 17). All groups were matched for age and gender. The sera of these patients were tested against West…
Antibodies to New Beta Cell Antigen ICA12 in Latvian Diabetes Patients
2006
In Latvia diabetes mellitus is diagnosed using the WHO's clinical criteria, and assays for the detection of autoantibodies are not available. In consequence, slowly progressive autoimmune diabetes or LADA is likely to be missed. Antibodies to GAD65 and IA-2 are the major immunological markers in autoimmune diabetes. Recently, a new beta cell antigen, called ICA12, has been identified, which has a homology to the SOX family of transcription factors. The aim of the study was to analyze the prevalence of ICA12 antibodies in diabetes mellitus patients and controls from Latvia and to see whether this antigen is important in revealing autoimmunity when antibodies against major antigens are not pr…
Serum autoantibodies to alpha-fodrin are present in glaucoma patients from Germany and the United States.
2006
PURPOSE Glaucoma is characterized by a progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells that results in a characteristic optic neuropathy associated with visual field loss. In previous studies, changes in the antibody profiles have been shown in the sera of patients with glaucoma, and these findings suggest a role for autoimmune involvement in the pathogenesis of glaucoma in some patients. The purpose of this study was to compare the antibody profiles against optic nerve antigens in patients with glaucoma in two different study populations from Germany and the United States. METHODS One hundred twenty patients were included in the study, 60 from Germany and 60 from the United States: a control gr…
A bioinformatical approach suggests the function of the autoimmune hepatitis target antigen soluble liver antigen/liver pancreas
2001
Antibodies to a soluble liver antigen/liver pancreas (SLA/LP) appear to be highly specific for the diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis. The SLA/LP target antigen was recently identified as a hitherto unknown gene encoding 474 amino acid residues. The function of this antigen remains unclear, because it does not share sequence homology with proteins of known function stored in any of the publicly accessible databases. Therefore we used a new theoretical method called fold recognition and could show that the SLA/LP sequence is compatible with the architecture of the superfamily of pyridoxal phosphate (PLP; vitamin B6)-dependent transferases. Its function is likely to be that of a serine hydroxy…
The nuclear autoantigen La/SS-associated antigen B: One gene, three functional mRNAs
1997
Transcription of the gene encoding for the nuclear autoantigen La resulted in three mRNA forms. A promoter switching combined with an alternative splicing pathway replaced exon 1 with either exon 1´ or exon 1´´. The exon 1´´ donor splice site was located 4 nts downstream of the exon 1´ donor splice site. All three La mRNA forms were expressed in all the tissues analysed including peripheral blood lymphocytes, liver, fetal spleen, cultured primary endothelial cells, and mouse LTA cell lines permanently transfected with the human La gene. Both the exons 1´ and 1´´ had unusual structures. They contained GC-rich regions and an oligo(U)-tail of 23 uridine residues. Moreover, they encoded for thr…
Autoimmune endocrine ophthalmopathy and retrobulbar antigens.
1995
Endocrine Ophthalmopathy (EO) is based on autoimmune processes that lead to lymphocyte infiltration of the retrobulbar space. In this study, antigenic character of retrobulbar adipose, connective and muscle tissue as well as of cultured fibroblasts and myoblasts were examined. Samples were obtained from EO patients (n = 13, 8 fem., age 26-82 years, median 47 years) undergoing orbital decompression surgery. Retrobulbar and abdominal tissue from 7 controls (4 fem., 48 - 74 y) was investigated, too. Tissues were homogenized and the proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE according to molecular weight. In order to recover the separated proteins in soluble form, an electroelution technique was emplo…
Human endothelial cells express proteinase 3, the target antigen of anticytoplasmic antibodies in Wegener's granulomatosis
1993
Abstract Autoantibodies directed against cytoplasmic antigens of neutrophils (ANCA), especially proteinase 3 (PR-3), have proved to be a useful clinical tool confirming the diagnosis or monitoring disease activity of Wegener's granulomatosis (WG). Although several concepts concerning the pathophysiologic potentials of ANCA have been discussed, only sparse data about ANCA-endothelium interactions have been available. In this study, we have investigated the expression of PR-3 in cytokine- treated human endothelial cells using purified anti-PR-3 antibodies of patients with WG, murine and human monoclonal anti-PR-3 antibodies as probes. We were able to show that tumor necrosis factor-alpha, int…
Neutrophil extracellular traps mediate transfer of cytoplasmic neutrophil antigens to myeloid dendritic cells toward ANCA induction and associated au…
2012
AbstractAntineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs) target proteins normally retained within neutrophils, indicating that cell death is involved in the autoimmunity process. Still, ANCA pathogenesis remains obscure. ANCAs activate neutrophils inducing their respiratory burst and a peculiar form of cell death, named NETosis, characterized by formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), decondensed chromatin threads decorated with cytoplasmic proteins endorsed with antimicrobial activity. NETs have been consistently detected in ANCA-associated small-vessel vasculitis, and this association prompted us to test whether the peculiar structure of NET favors neutrophil proteins uploading i…