Fox R I, Chilton T, Rhodes G, Vaughan J H
J Immunol. 1986 Jul 15;137(2):498-501.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial membranes contain a 62,000 dalton (62 Kd) molecule that shares an antigenic epitope with the EBNA-1 antigen of Epstein Barr virus (EBV). This cross-reactive epitope(s) is defined by a monoclonal anti-EBNA-1 antibody (MoAb P135) and by a rabbit antibody directed against a (glycine-alanine)-containing synthetic peptide from the internal repeat region-3 (IR-3) of EBNA-1. To determine whether this 62 Kd protein may result from EBV infection of RA synovial membranes, we used cloned DNA probes from the Bam M, Bam V, and Eco D regions of EBV. These probes did not show detectable reactivity with RA synovial membrane DNA in Southern blotting or slot blotting experiments. Reconstruction experiments performed with purified EBV DNA demonstrated the ability to detect 0.03 pg of viral DNA per 20 micrograms of normal genomic DNA, or approximately 1 EBV copy per 100 cells. In contrast, we found a low but significant level of reactivity of RA synovial membrane DNA with the EBV-encoded Bam K probe that encodes the EBNA-1 antigen. However, this probe also was reactive with normal genomic DNA to a similar extent. These results suggest that the 62 Kd antigen in RA synovial lining cells is probably encoded by cellular genes similar to the IR-3 region of EBV and does not result from EBV infection of the RA synovial membrane.
类风湿性关节炎（RA）滑膜含有一种62,000道尔顿（62 Kd）的分子，它与爱泼斯坦 - 巴尔病毒（EBV）的EBNA - 1抗原共享一个抗原表位。这种交叉反应性表位由单克隆抗EBNA - 1抗体（MoAb P135）以及一种针对来自EBNA - 1内部重复区域3（IR - 3）的含（甘氨酸 - 丙氨酸）合成肽的兔抗体所界定。为了确定这种62 Kd蛋白是否可能源于RA滑膜的EBV感染，我们使用了来自EBV的Bam M、Bam V和Eco D区域的克隆DNA探针。在Southern印迹或狭缝印迹实验中，这些探针未显示出与RA滑膜DNA有可检测到的反应性。用纯化的EBV DNA进行的重建实验表明，每20微克正常基因组DNA能够检测到0.03皮克的病毒DNA，即每100个细胞中约有1个EBV拷贝。相比之下，我们发现RA滑膜DNA与编码EBNA - 1抗原的EBV编码的Bam K探针有低但显著水平的反应性。然而，该探针与正常基因组DNA的反应程度也相似。这些结果表明，RA滑膜衬里细胞中的62 Kd抗原可能由类似于EBV的IR - 3区域的细胞基因编码，而非源于RA滑膜的EBV感染。
