Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Clinical and Experimental Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Experimental Immunology
. 1987 Jun;68(3):588–595.

Precipitating antibodies to rabbit thymus extractable antigens in chronic liver disease: relationship with anti-actin antibodies.

F Cassani 1, M Fusconi 1, F B Bianchi 1, L Selleri 1, L Baffoni 1, M Lenzi 1, E Pisi 1
PMCID: PMC1542757  PMID: 3308218

Abstract

Using counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE), serum antibodies to rabbit thymus extractable antigens were detected in 15% (38/259) of patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) of various aetiologies and 33% (41/124) of patients with miscellaneous connective tissue diseases (CTD). A remarkable diversity of precipitating systems was apparent among cases with the two classes of disorders. All the five systems found in CLD (XR, XR2, SS-B, XR3, XR4) were associated mostly with immunological hepatic disorders. In the 52 autoimmune hepatitis cases, XR was mainly detected (29%), whereas in the 82 primary biliary cirrhosis patients the whole spectrum of reactivities was represented (XR: 11%, XR2: 10%, SS-B and XR3: 2% each, XR4: 1%). XR proved to be closely associated with smooth muscle antibodies (SMA, detected by indirect immunofluorescence on rat kidney sections) both qualitatively and quantitatively. Since all SMA positive sera with anti-actin specificity (SMAT, SMAG) were XR positive and purified actin could absorb out XR CIE reactivity, the hypothesis is made that a cross-reaction occurs between XR antigen and actin epitope(s).

Full text

PDF
588

Images in this article

591Fig. 1
on p.591

Selected References

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

  1. Alvarez F., Bernard O., Homberg J. C., Kreibich G. Anti-liver-kidney microsome antibody recognizes a 50,000 molecular weight protein of the endoplasmic reticulum. J Exp Med. 1985 May 1;161(5):1231–1236. doi: 10.1084/jem.161.5.1231. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Berg P. A., Homberg J. C., Bottazzo G. F., Doniach D. Clinical significance of mitochondrial antibodies in relation to liver disease. Lancet. 1981 Oct 10;2(8250):804–804. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(81)90206-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bernstein R. M. Antinuclear antibodies in primary biliary cirrhosis. Lancet. 1984 Mar 3;1(8375):508–508. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(84)92869-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bernstein R. M., Bunn C. C., Hughes G. R. Identification of antibodies to acidic antigens by counterimmunoelectrophoresis. Ann Rheum Dis. 1982 Oct;41(5):554–555. doi: 10.1136/ard.41.5.554. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bernstein R. M., Neuberger J. M., Bunn C. C., Callender M. E., Hughes G. R., Williams R. Diversity of autoantibodies in primary biliary cirrhosis and chronic active hepatitis. Clin Exp Immunol. 1984 Mar;55(3):553–560. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bottazzo G. F., Florin-Christensen A., Fairfax A., Swana G., Doniach D., Groeschel-Stewart U. Classification of smooth muscle autoantibodies detected by immunofluorescence. J Clin Pathol. 1976 May;29(5):403–410. doi: 10.1136/jcp.29.5.403. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Bretherton L., Brown C., Pedersen J. S., Toh B. H., Clarke F. M., Mackay I. R., Gust I. D. ELISA assay for IgG autoantibody to G-actin: comparison of chronic active hepatitis and acute viral hepatitis. Clin Exp Immunol. 1983 Mar;51(3):611–616. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Cassani F., Bianchi F. B., Lenzi M., Volta U., Pisi E. Immunomorphological characterisation of antinuclear antibodies in chronic liver disease. J Clin Pathol. 1985 Jul;38(7):801–805. doi: 10.1136/jcp.38.7.801. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Diederichsen H., Riisom K. Anti-actin antibodies revealed by counter-immunoelectrophoresis. Relation to smooth muscle antibodies and bile canalicular antibodies. J Clin Pathol. 1980 Sep;33(9):876–879. doi: 10.1136/jcp.33.9.876. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Drummond M. B., Montgomery R. D. Acute sprue in Britain. Br Med J. 1970 May 9;2(5705):340–341. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5705.340. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kurata N., Tan E. M. Identification of antibodies to nuclear acidic antigens by counterimmunoelectrophoresis. Arthritis Rheum. 1976 May-Jun;19(3):574–580. doi: 10.1002/art.1780190309. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. LOWRY O. H., ROSEBROUGH N. J., FARR A. L., RANDALL R. J. Protein measurement with the Folin phenol reagent. J Biol Chem. 1951 Nov;193(1):265–275. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lenzi M., Bianchi F. B., Cassani F., Pisi E. Liver cell surface expression of the antigen reacting with liver-kidney microsomal antibody (LKM). Clin Exp Immunol. 1984 Jan;55(1):36–40. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lidman K., Biberfeld G., Fagraeus A., Norberg R., Torstensson R., Utter G., Carlsson L., Luca J., Lindberg U. Anti-actin specificity of human smooth muscle antibodies in chronic active hepatitis. Clin Exp Immunol. 1976 May;24(2):266–272. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Mackay I. R. Immunological aspects of chronic active hepatitis. Hepatology. 1983 Sep-Oct;3(5):724–728. doi: 10.1002/hep.1840030517. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Odièvre M., Maggiore G., Homberg J. C., Saadoun F., Couroucé A. M., Yvart J., Hadchouel M., Alagille D. Seroimmunologic classification of chronic hepatitis in 57 children. Hepatology. 1983 May-Jun;3(3):407–409. doi: 10.1002/hep.1840030320. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Pedersen J. S., Toh B. H., Mackay I. R., Tait B. D., Gust I. D., Kastelan A., Hadzic N. Segregation of autoantibody to cytoskeletal filaments, actin and intermediate filaments with two types of chronic active hepatitis. Clin Exp Immunol. 1982 Jun;48(3):527–532. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Penner E., Kindas-Mügge I., Hitchman E., Sauermann G. Nuclear antigens recognized by antibodies present in liver disease sera. Clin Exp Immunol. 1986 Feb;63(2):428–433. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Swales J. D., Evans D. B. Erythraemia in renal transplantation. Br Med J. 1969 Apr 12;2(5649):80–83. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5649.80. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Tan E. M. Autoantibodies to nuclear antigens (ANA): their immunobiology and medicine. Adv Immunol. 1982;33:167–240. doi: 10.1016/s0065-2776(08)60836-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Toh B. H. Smooth muscle autoantibodies and autoantigens. Clin Exp Immunol. 1979 Dec;38(3):621–628. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Volta U., Ballardini G., Cassani F., Zauli D., Bianchi F. B., Pisi E. Hépatite chronique active avec anticorps antimicrosome de foie et de rein. Med Chir Dig. 1980;9(6):465–469. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

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

RESOURCES