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Molecular mimicry between bacterial and self antigen in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus

1999; Wiley; Volume: 29; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/(sici)1521-4141(199906)29

1521-4141

Czeslawa Kowal, Arthur Weinstein, Betty Diamond,

T-cell and B-cell Immunology

The importance of microbial infection as a trigger for the induction of systemic lupus erythematosus is frequently debated. Clinical observations indicate that anti-viral and anti-bacterial responses are often accompanied by self reactivity, and anti-pneumococcal antibodies elicited in non-autoimmune individuals by pneumococcal vaccine express lupus-associated anti-DNA idiotypes. To explore the relationship between protective and pathogenic antibodies in humans, we have used the phage display immunoglobulin expression system to generate a combinatorial library from spleen cells of a lupus patient immunized with a polyvalent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine prior to splenectomy. From this library, monovalent antigen-binding fragments expressing the 3I Vκ1-associated idiotype were isolated. This idiotype is expressed on up to 90 % of anti-DNA antibodies in the serum of lupus patients and on anti-pneumococcal antibodies in the serum of non-autoimmune individuals. Eight 3I+ monovalent antigen-binding fragments reacting with pneumococcal polysaccharide, DNA or both were analyzed. Four of these fragments were cross-reactive with both foreign and self antigen, demonstrating that a high percentage of anti-bacterial antibodies produced in a patient with lupus bind double-stranded DNA. These studies provide support at the molecular level for a potential role of molecular mimicry in the generation of anti-DNA antibodies. In addition, this is, to our knowledge, the first panel of fully sequenced human anti-pneumococcal antibodies.