Meilof J F, Veldhoven C H, Swaak A J, Smeenk R J
Dept. of Autoimmune Diseases, Central Laboratory of the Netherlands Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
J Autoimmun. 1997 Feb;10(1):67-75. doi: 10.1006/jaut.1996.0110.
Autoimmune diseases such as Sjögren's Syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are characterized by serum autoantibodies against protein components of small cytoplasmic ribonucleoproteins (scRNPs). The origin and regulation of these anti-Ro/SS-A and anti-La/SS-B antibodies is not well understood. Regular co-occurrence of these two autoantibodies in humans together with murine studies on antibody responses against scRNPs after immunization suggest a role for scRNPs as common antigen. We sought additional evidence for this hypothesis in a longitudinal serological study of patients with SLE. Quantitative measurement of the antibody responses against Ro/SS-A and La/SS-B proteins and for comparison to dsDNA in 852 serum samples was performed. These samples were collected from nine patients during an average observation period of more than 10 years. A significant and strong correlation between the two anti-scRNP responses emerged during 90% of follow-up. In contrast, correlation of anti-scRNP with anti-dsDNA responses was remarkably absent in the same patients. Our results confirm the unique relationship between anti-Ro/SS-A and anti-La/ SS-B responses and could thus be interpreted as support for a model wherein induction and perpetuation of autoantibody production is dependent on scRNPs containing both proteins as antigen.
自身免疫性疾病，如干燥综合征和系统性红斑狼疮（SLE），其特征是血清中存在针对小细胞质核糖核蛋白（scRNP）蛋白质成分的自身抗体。这些抗Ro/SS-A和抗La/SS-B抗体的起源和调控机制尚不清楚。这两种自身抗体在人类中经常共同出现，以及小鼠免疫后针对scRNP的抗体反应研究表明，scRNP作为共同抗原发挥了作用。我们在一项针对SLE患者的纵向血清学研究中寻找这一假设的更多证据。对852份血清样本中针对Ro/SS-A和La/SS-B蛋白的抗体反应进行了定量测量，并与双链DNA（dsDNA）进行比较。这些样本来自9名患者，平均观察期超过10年。在90%的随访期间，两种抗scRNP反应之间出现了显著且强烈的相关性。相比之下，在同一患者中，抗scRNP与抗dsDNA反应之间明显缺乏相关性。我们的结果证实了抗Ro/SS-A和抗La/SS-B反应之间的独特关系，因此可以解释为支持一种模型，即自身抗体产生的诱导和持续依赖于含有这两种蛋白质作为抗原的scRNP。
