Braun G, McKechnie N M, Connor V, Gilbert C E, Engelbrecht F, Whitworth J A, Taylor D W
Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
J Exp Med. 1991 Jul 1;174(1):169-77. doi: 10.1084/jem.174.1.169.
Onchocerciasis (river blindness) is a major blinding disease in Africa, Central America, and South America. Loss of vision can be due to corneal change, optic atrophy, or chorioretinal disease. It has been suggested that autoimmunological reactions resulting from crossreactivity between parasite antigens and components of eye tissues contribute to development of ocular pathology. Using sera collected from onchocerciasis patients as a screening reagent, a cDNA clone (Ov39) has been isolated from a lambda gt11 expression library of Onchocerca volvulus. This antigen exhibits immunological crossreactivity with a component of retinal pigment epithelium cells (RPE). Antiserum raised against this recombinant peptide immunoprecipitates a 22,000 Mr antigen of adult O. volvulus and recognizes a 44,000 Mr component of bovine RPE by Western blotting. A 44,000 Mr antigen of cultured human RPE metabolically labeled with 35S-methionine can be immunoprecipitated with the same antiserum. An antigen of the same size is recognized by a rabbit antiserum raised against whole O. volvulus extract. Immunocytochemical studies on cryostat sections of the bovine eye using the antirecombinant sera localizes this antigen to the RPE.
盘尾丝虫病（河盲症）是非洲、中美洲和南美洲的一种主要致盲疾病。失明可能是由于角膜病变、视神经萎缩或脉络膜视网膜疾病。有人提出，寄生虫抗原与眼组织成分之间的交叉反应所导致的自身免疫反应促成了眼部病理的发展。利用从盘尾丝虫病患者采集的血清作为筛选试剂，从旋盘尾丝虫的λgt11表达文库中分离出了一个cDNA克隆（Ov39）。这种抗原与视网膜色素上皮细胞（RPE）的一种成分表现出免疫交叉反应。针对这种重组肽产生的抗血清免疫沉淀出旋盘尾丝虫成虫的一种22,000 Mr抗原，并通过蛋白质印迹法识别出牛RPE的一种44,000 Mr成分。用35S-甲硫氨酸进行代谢标记的培养人RPE的一种44,000 Mr抗原可用同一种抗血清进行免疫沉淀。针对旋盘尾丝虫全虫提取物产生的兔抗血清识别出相同大小的一种抗原。使用抗重组血清对牛眼冷冻切片进行免疫细胞化学研究，将这种抗原定位到RPE。
