Human smooth muscle autoantibody. Its identification as antiactin antibody and a study of its binding to "nonmuscular" cells.

When human serum containing smooth muscle autoantibodies (SMA) is incubated with extracts containing thrombosthenin (the contractile material of platelets) or thrombosthenin-A (the actin-like moiety of thrombosthenin), it loses its ability to bind to smooth muscle. Such binding is also diminished when SMA serum is incubated with lysed platelets; this effect is not seen if the SMA serum is incubated with intact platelets. The incubation of other autoantibodies (such as antimitochondrial or antinuclear antibodies) with thrombosthenin does not affect their binding to the specific antigens. It appears that SMA is directed against the actin fraction of thrombosthenin-ie, SMA is an antiactin antibody. Hence the name of antiactin autoantibody (AAA) seems more appropriate than smooth muscle autoantibody (SMA). A study of the distribution of antiactin autoantibody binding in rat, rabbit and man shows that several "nonmuscular" structures contain actin under normal conditions; these include megakaryocytes and platelets, normal rat hepatocytes, the brush borders of renal tubules, the periphery of epithelial cells of the intestine, polymorphs and lymphocytes in lymph nodes (but not thymic cortical lymphocytes). In addition, certain cell types (such as granulation tissue fibroblasts, cultivated fibroblasts, hepatocytes or regenerating liver and epidermal cells growing over a skin wound) can reversibly acquire a massive network of actin-containing microfilaments resembling those in smooth muscle.