Specificity of anti-histone antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus

✍ Scribed by Robert L. Rubin; Fenneke G. Joslin; Eng M. Tan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1982
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 326 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780250712

✦ Synopsis

Antibody a c t i v i t y t o various histones was examined i n a s o l i d phase radioimmunoassay. More than one h a l f o f the sera from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) p a t i e n t s had IgM a c t i v i t y t o t o t a l histones, and a s l i g h t l y lower frequency was observed f o r IgG a n t ibodies.

I n d i v i d u a l histones H3 and H2A were r e a c t i v e w i t h many SLE sera, and p a r t i c u l a r l y marked and prev a l e n t antibody a c t i v i t y was detected when a m i x t u r e o f histones H2A and H2B was used as the s o l i d phase a n t igen. The predominance o f anti-HZA-HeB a c t i v i t y i n SLE sera was observed i n both IgG and IgM antibodies and appeared independent o f o t h e r histones and DNA.

The discovery o f the LE c e l l phenanenon i n 1948 by Hargraves (1) l e d t o t h e i d e n t i f i c a t i o n o f t h e wide v a r i e t y o f autoantibodies commonly found i n t h e sera o f p a t i e n t s with various r h e u m t i c diseases. The LE c e l l phenomenon was shown t o r e q u i r e a n t i b o d i e s t o deoxyr i b o n u c l e o p r o t e i n (DNP) which complexed t o n u c l e a r m a t e r i a l released from damaged leukocytes. Despite t h e i r long and precedent s e t t i n g h i s t o r y , antibodies r e a c t i v e w i t h DNP have n o t been we1 1 characterized.

Evidence obtained by H o l m n e t a1 (2) and others (3,4) i n d i c a t e d t h a t anti-DNP a n t i b o d i e s a r e r e l a t i v e l y common i n SLE, and t h a t t h e i r r e a c t i v i t y depends on t h e presence o f histones.

Antibodies i n SLE sera capable o f r e a c t i n g w i t h f r e e histones were detected by Kunkel using a complement f i x a t i o n assay (S), and t h e i r h i s -