Singh V K, Nussenblatt R B, Donoso L A, Yamaki K, Chan C C, Shinohara T
Laboratory of Immunology, National Eye Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Cell Immunol. 1988 Sep;115(2):413-9. doi: 10.1016/0008-8749(88)90193-1.
S-antigen is a well-characterized retinal protein that is highly pathogenic for the induction of experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU), a severe inflammatory disease of the eye and the pineal gland. EAU was observed following the immunization of Lewis rats with various doses (50 to 200 micrograms) of a small synthetic peptide, peptide N (22 amino acids in length), which corresponds to amino acid positions 281 to 302 in bovine S-antigen. Peptide N consistently induced an EAU that was identical to the disease caused by native S-antigen. Clinically, the disease that developed in the eye was characterized by iris and pericorneal hyperemia, followed by inflammatory exudates in the anterior chamber and vitreous. Histopathologically, a severe inflammatory response was observed that resulted in the complete destruction of the photoreceptor cell layer of the retina. In addition, animals with ocular inflammatory disease had an associated pinealitis characterized by a lymphocytic infiltration of the pineal gland. Furthermore, draining lymph node cells of rats immunized with peptide N showed strong in vitro proliferative responses toward peptide N as measured by [3H]thymidine uptake. Our results indicate that several synthetic peptides, which correspond to the amino acid sequence of bovine S-antigen, are capable of inducing an EAU and, as such, suggest that multiple uveitopathogenic sites may be present in the molecule.
S抗原是一种特征明确的视网膜蛋白，对诱导实验性自身免疫性葡萄膜炎（EAU）具有高度致病性，EAU是一种累及眼睛和松果体的严重炎症性疾病。在用不同剂量（50至200微克）的一种小合成肽（肽N，长度为22个氨基酸）免疫Lewis大鼠后观察到EAU，该肽对应于牛S抗原的第281至302位氨基酸。肽N始终诱导出与天然S抗原引起的疾病相同的EAU。临床上，眼部出现的疾病表现为虹膜和角膜周围充血，随后前房和玻璃体出现炎性渗出物。组织病理学上，观察到严重的炎症反应，导致视网膜光感受器细胞层完全破坏。此外，患有眼部炎症疾病的动物伴有松果体炎，其特征为松果体淋巴细胞浸润。此外，用肽N免疫的大鼠引流淋巴结细胞经[3H]胸腺嘧啶核苷摄取测定显示对肽N有强烈的体外增殖反应。我们的结果表明，几种与牛S抗原氨基酸序列相对应的合成肽能够诱导EAU，因此表明该分子中可能存在多个葡萄膜炎致病位点。
