Natural antibodies that react with V-region peptide epitopes of DNA-binding antibodies are made by mice with systemic lupus erythematosus as disease develops.

Cross-reactive idiotypes (CRI) have been detected on anti-DNA autoantibodies associated with lesions typical of systemic lupus erythematosus. In order to analyse the antigenic make up of idiotypes on anti-DNA monoclonal antibodies (mAb) V-88 (IgG1 kappa) and F-423 (IgG3 kappa), derived respectively from an adult (NZB x NZW)F1 and a fetal MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr mouse, a set of overlapping hexapeptides representing the VH and VL regions of mAb V-88 and F-423 were synthesized and reacted with a range of sera in pepscan enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) taken from normal and lupus mouse strains. Serum pools were collected both from normal BALB/c and lupus MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr and (NZB x NZW)F1 mice at 10, 20 and 30 weeks of age and analysed for the presence of spontaneously produced anti-V-region peptide IgM and IgG antibodies. IgM antibodies from both the lupus mice reacted with the same V-region epitopes, and although some epitopes mapped to similar locations in the two mAb, the maps for V-88 and F-423 were not identical. In MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr mice, as lupus disease progressed there was a switch from IgM antibodies to IgG anti-peptide antibodies whose specificity for the peptide antigens coincided with but was better defined than that of the IgM antibodies. The identified idiotopes were located in both complementary determining regions (CDR) and framework region (FR) regions, indicating that some contribute to CRI shared by other related antibodies, while others were unique to either mAb V-88 or F-423. In conclusion, we have dissected and identified a mosaic of antibody V-region idiotopes that contribute to the idiotype of an anti-DNA autoantibody and against which autoantibodies are made naturally in lupus disease.