Bahauddin Afrin, Curtis Kyra, Guptarak Jutatip, Huda Ruksana
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555, USA.
Antibodies (Basel). 2024 Jul 1;13(3):53. doi: 10.3390/antib13030053.
Serological testing for anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) autoantibodies is not only crucial for the diagnosing, disease monitoring, and treatment management of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) but also for preclinical studies utilizing MG disease models. However, there are no specific guidelines on which methods to use in clinical diagnostic or research laboratories to detect or quantify any MG-specific autoantibodies. Conventional autoantibody assays, particularly those for anti-AChR antibodies, are varied and mostly laboratory-specific. Here, we report our new nonradioactive immunoprecipitation-immunoblotting method for assessing autoantibodies (anti-AChR antibodies) in a mouse model of MG. This simple, efficient, reproducible, and cost-effective assay appears superior to the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay but comparable to the radioimmunoprecipitation or cell-based assay in specificity and sensitivity. Thus, the newly developed assay can serve as a valuable alternative to classical assays and is suitable for routine testing of AChR-specific autoantibodies in preclinical studies. The further optimization of our assay may facilitate its application in the diagnosis and therapeutic management of patients with MG.
抗乙酰胆碱受体（AChR）自身抗体的血清学检测不仅对重症肌无力（MG）患者的诊断、疾病监测和治疗管理至关重要，而且对利用MG疾病模型的临床前研究也很重要。然而，对于临床诊断或研究实验室使用何种方法来检测或定量任何MG特异性自身抗体，尚无具体指南。传统的自身抗体检测方法，尤其是针对抗AChR抗体的检测方法各不相同，且大多是实验室特定的。在此，我们报告了一种新的非放射性免疫沉淀-免疫印迹方法，用于评估MG小鼠模型中的自身抗体（抗AChR抗体）。这种简单、高效、可重复且具有成本效益的检测方法似乎优于酶联免疫吸附测定法，但在特异性和敏感性方面与放射免疫沉淀或基于细胞的测定法相当。因此，新开发的检测方法可作为经典检测方法的有价值替代方法，适用于临床前研究中AChR特异性自身抗体的常规检测。我们检测方法的进一步优化可能会促进其在MG患者诊断和治疗管理中的应用。
