Skip to main content
PMC home page
Clinical and Experimental Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Experimental Immunology
. 1995 May;100(2):198–204. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1995.tb03653.x

Autoantibodies against eukaryotic protein L7 in patients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus and progressive systemic sclerosis: frequency and correlation with clinical, serological and genetic parameters. The SLE Study Group.

E Neu 1, A H von Mikecz 1, P H Hemmerich 1, H H Peter 1, M Fricke 1, H Deicher 1, E Genth 1, U Krawinkel 1
PMCID: PMC1534346  PMID: 7743655

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that sera of patients suffering from systemic autoimmune diseases contain autoantibodies directed against the eukaryotic ribosomal protein L7 [1]. In the present study we screened a large panel of sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) for the presence of anti-L7 autoantibodies and their relationship to clinical, serological and genetic parameters of SLE. By means of an ELISA employing recombinant protein L7 as antigen we detected anti-L7 autoantobodies in 172 of 506 SLE sera (34%). Negative correlations were observed between the presence of anti-L7 autoantibodies, serum IgG levels and proteinuria; a potentially positive relationship existed with lung fibrosis. In order to analyse further this possibility we screened sera of 129 patients suffering from progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) for anti-L7 reactivity; 45 of these patients had lung fibrosis. Of the PSS patients, 41% exhibited anti-L7 autoantibodies, but positive reactions were evenly distributed among patients with and without lung fibrosis. Protein L7 thus represents a major autoantigen of systemic autoimmune diseases, but does not so far define a distinct subpopulation of patients.

Full text

PDF
199

Images in this article

199Fig. 1
on p.199

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bonfa E., Golombek S. J., Kaufman L. D., Skelly S., Weissbach H., Brot N., Elkon K. B. Association between lupus psychosis and anti-ribosomal P protein antibodies. N Engl J Med. 1987 Jul 30;317(5):265–271. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198707303170503. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Derksen R. H., van Dam A. P., Gmelig Meyling F. H., Bijlsma J. W., Smeenk R. J. A prospective study on antiribosomal P proteins in two cases of familial lupus and recurrent psychosis. Ann Rheum Dis. 1990 Oct;49(10):779–782. doi: 10.1136/ard.49.10.779. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Ehrfeld H., Hartung K., Renz M., Coldewey R., Deicher H., Fricke M., Kalden J. R., Lakomek J., Peter H. H., Schendel D. MHC associations of autoantibodies against recombinant Ro and La proteins in systemic lupus erythematosus. Results of a multicenter study. SLE Study Group. Rheumatol Int. 1992;12(5):169–173. doi: 10.1007/BF00302148. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Elkon K. B., Parnassa A. P., Foster C. L. Lupus autoantibodies target ribosomal P proteins. J Exp Med. 1985 Aug 1;162(2):459–471. doi: 10.1084/jem.162.2.459. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Francoeur A. M., Peebles C. L., Heckman K. J., Lee J. C., Tan E. M. Identification of ribosomal protein autoantigens. J Immunol. 1985 Oct;135(4):2378–2384. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hartung K., Baur M. P., Coldewey R., Fricke M., Kalden J. R., Lakomek H. J., Peter H. H., Schendel D., Schneider P. M., Seuchter S. A. Major histocompatibility complex haplotypes and complement C4 alleles in systemic lupus erythematosus. Results of a multicenter study. J Clin Invest. 1992 Oct;90(4):1346–1351. doi: 10.1172/JCI116000. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hartung K., Fontana A., Klar M., Krippner H., Jörgens K., Lang B., Peter H. H., Pichler W. J., Schendel D., Robin-Winn M. Association of class I, II, and III MHC gene products with systemic lupus erythematosus. Results of a Central European multicenter study. Rheumatol Int. 1989;9(1):13–18. doi: 10.1007/BF00270284. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hemmerich P., von Mikecz A., Neumann F., Sözeri O., Wolff-Vorbeck G., Zoebelein R., Krawinkel U. Structural and functional properties of ribosomal protein L7 from humans and rodents. Nucleic Acids Res. 1993 Jan 25;21(2):223–231. doi: 10.1093/nar/21.2.223. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Koffler D., Schur P. H., Kunkel H. G. Immunological studies concerning the nephritis of systemic lupus erythematosus. J Exp Med. 1967 Oct 1;126(4):607–624. doi: 10.1084/jem.126.4.607. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lin A., Chan Y. L., McNally J., Peleg D., Meyuhas O., Wool I. G. The primary structure of rat ribosomal protein L7. The presence near the amino terminus of L7 of five tandem repeats of a sequence of 12 amino acids. J Biol Chem. 1987 Sep 15;262(26):12665–12671. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Morrow W. J., Isenberg D. A., Todd-Pokropek A., Parry H. F., Snaith M. L. Useful laboratory measurements in the management of systemic lupus erythematosus. Q J Med. 1982 Spring;51(202):125–138. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Reichlin M., Wasicek C. A. Clinical and biologic significance of antibodies to Ro/SSA. Hum Pathol. 1983 May;14(5):401–405. doi: 10.1016/s0046-8177(83)80284-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Reinertsen J. L., Klippel J. H., Johnson A. H., Steinberg A. D., Decker J. L., Mann D. L. B-lymphocyte alloantigens associated with systemic lupus erythematosus. N Engl J Med. 1978 Sep 7;299(10):515–518. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197809072991004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Suzuki T., Burlingame R. W., Casiano C. A., Boey M. L., Rubin R. L. Antihistone antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus: assay dependency and effects of ubiquitination and serum DNA. J Rheumatol. 1994 Jun;21(6):1081–1091. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Tan E. M. Antinuclear antibodies: diagnostic markers for autoimmune diseases and probes for cell biology. Adv Immunol. 1989;44:93–151. doi: 10.1016/s0065-2776(08)60641-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Tan E. M. Autoantibodies in pathology and cell biology. Cell. 1991 Nov 29;67(5):841–842. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90356-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Tan E. M., Cohen A. S., Fries J. F., Masi A. T., McShane D. J., Rothfield N. F., Schaller J. G., Talal N., Winchester R. J. The 1982 revised criteria for the classification of systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis Rheum. 1982 Nov;25(11):1271–1277. doi: 10.1002/art.1780251101. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Tan E. M., Schur P. H., Carr R. I., Kunkel H. G. Deoxybonucleic acid (DNA) and antibodies to DNA in the serum of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. J Clin Invest. 1966 Nov;45(11):1732–1740. doi: 10.1172/JCI105479. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Teh L. S., Isenberg D. A. Antiribosomal P protein antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus. A reappraisal. Arthritis Rheum. 1994 Mar;37(3):307–315. doi: 10.1002/art.1780370303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Vincent A. Immunology of acetylcholine receptors in relation to myasthenia gravis. Physiol Rev. 1980 Jul;60(3):756–824. doi: 10.1152/physrev.1980.60.3.756. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. van Venrooij W. J., van Gelder C. W. B cell epitopes on nuclear autoantigens. What can they tell us? Arthritis Rheum. 1994 May;37(5):608–616. doi: 10.1002/art.1780370502. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. von Mikecz A., Hemmerich P., Peter H. H., Krawinkel U. Characterization of eukaryotic protein L7 as a novel autoantigen which frequently elicits an immune response in patients suffering from systemic autoimmune disease. Immunobiology. 1994 Dec;192(1-2):137–154. doi: 10.1016/S0171-2985(11)80413-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Experimental Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES