Sundar Krishnan, Jacques Sabine, Gottlieb Paul, Villars Raquel, Benito Mary-Ellen, Taylor Devon K, Spatz Linda A
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, CUNY Medical School/Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, The City College of New York, New York, NY 10031, USA.
J Autoimmun. 2004 Sep;23(2):127-40. doi: 10.1016/j.jaut.2004.06.001.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by the production of anti-nuclear antibodies. The etiology of SLE is unknown, although several viruses including the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) have been implicated. An increase in the frequency of EBV infection has been observed in SLE patients relative to normal individuals. Some patients with SLE develop antibodies that recognize a proline rich epitope in the ribonucleoprotein Sm B/B that is similar to an epitope in EBNA-1, a major nuclear antigen of EBV. In the present study we have cloned the EBNA-1 gene under the control of the CMV promoter in the vector pcDNA3. We now report for the first time that expression of the entire EBNA-1 protein in the mouse can elicit the production of IgG antibodies to Sm and to double-stranded DNA (dsDNA). Our data suggest that the anti-Sm response arises as a consequence of antigenic cross-reactivity by anti-EBNA-1 antibodies. These results support a possible association between EBV infection and SLE.
系统性红斑狼疮（SLE）是一种慢性自身免疫性疾病，其特征是产生抗核抗体。尽管包括爱泼斯坦-巴尔病毒（EBV）在内的几种病毒被认为与SLE的病因有关，但其病因尚不清楚。相对于正常个体，SLE患者中EBV感染频率有所增加。一些SLE患者会产生识别核糖核蛋白Sm B/B中富含脯氨酸表位的抗体，该表位与EBV的主要核抗原EBNA-1中的一个表位相似。在本研究中，我们在载体pcDNA3中克隆了处于巨细胞病毒（CMV）启动子控制下的EBNA-1基因。我们首次报告，小鼠中完整EBNA-1蛋白的表达可引发针对Sm和双链DNA（dsDNA）的IgG抗体产生。我们的数据表明，抗Sm反应是抗EBNA-1抗体抗原交叉反应的结果。这些结果支持EBV感染与SLE之间可能存在关联。
