Skip to main content

The specificity of disease-associated anti-fibrillarin autoantibodies compared with that of HgCl2-induced autoantibodies

Molecular Biology Reports volume 20, pages 63–73 (1994)Cite this article

Abstract

Autoantibodies against nucleolar components are a common serological feature of patients suffering from scleroderma, a collagen vascular autoimmune disease. An important target of these autoantibodies is a protein with an apparent molecular weight of 36 kDa and a pI value of 8.5, located in the dense fibrillar component of the nucleolus and therefore termed fibrillarin. Animal models in which abundant anti-nucleolar antibodies appear spontaneously have not yet been described; however, high levels of anti-fibrillarin antibodies can be induced by treating susceptible strains of mice with sub-toxic amounts of mercuric chloride. In this study, we have analysed the specificity of anti-fibrillarin autoantibodies of human and murine origin. Our results suggest that both species have similar, if not identical conformational epitopes that are the target of anti-fibrillarin autoantibodies; these epitopes require the presence of a 30-kDa fragment of the fibrillarin molecule. Post-translational modifications such as the dimethylation of arginines in the N terminus of the protein are not essential for antibody recognition.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Abbreviations

ANA:

Antinuclear autoantibodies

ANolA:

Antinucleolar autoantibodies

snoRNA:

small nucleolar RNA

snoRNP:

small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein

References

  1. Ritchie RF (1970) N. Engl. J. Med. 282: 1174–1178

    Google Scholar 

  2. Pinnas JL, Northway JD & Tan EM (1973) J. Immunol. 111: 996–1004

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bernstein RM, Steigerwald JC & Tan EM (1982) Clin. Exp. Immunol. 48: 43–51

    Google Scholar 

  4. Lischwe MA, Ochs RL, Reddy R, Cook RG, Yeoman LC, Tan EM, Reichlin M & Busch H (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260: 14304–14310

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ochs RL, Lischwe M, Spohn WH & Busch H (1985) Biol. Cell 54: 123–134

    Google Scholar 

  6. Guiltinan MJ, Schelling ME, Ehtesham NZ, Thomas JC & Christensen ME (1988) Cell Biol. 46: 547–553

    Google Scholar 

  7. Goter Robinson CJ, Abraham AA & Balazs T (1984) Clin. Exp. Immunol. 58: 300–306

    Google Scholar 

  8. Goter Robinson CJ, Balazc T & Egorov IK (1986) Tox. Appl. Pharmacol. 86: 159–169

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mirtcheva J, Pfeiffer C, De Bruijn JA, Jaquesmart F & Gleichmann E (1989) Eur. J. Immunol. 19: 2257–2261

    Google Scholar 

  10. Reuter R, Tessars G, Vohr H-W, Gleichmann E & Lührmann R (1989) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86: 237–241

    Google Scholar 

  11. Hultman P, Eneström S, Pollard KM & Tan EM (1989) Clin. Exp. Immunol. 78: 470–477

    Google Scholar 

  12. Hultman P, Bell LJ, Eneström S & Pollard KM (1992) Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. 65: 98–109

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hultman P, Eneström S & Skogh T (1989) J. Clin. Lab. Immunol. 29: 175–183

    Google Scholar 

  14. Habets WJ, de Rooij DJ, Salden MH, Verhagen AP, van Eekelen CA, van de Putte LB & van Venrooij WJ (1983) Clin. Exp. Immunol. 54: 265–276

    Google Scholar 

  15. Laemmli UK (1970) Nature 227: 680–685

    Google Scholar 

  16. Schagger H & von Jagow G (1987) Anal. Biochem. 166: 368–379

    Google Scholar 

  17. Towbin H, Staehelin T & Gordon (1979) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 76: 5350–4354

    Google Scholar 

  18. Zeller R, Nyffenegger T & De Robertis E. M. (1983) Cell 32: 425–434

    Google Scholar 

  19. Lapeyre B, Mariottini P, Mathieu C, Ferrer P, Amaldi F, Amalric F & Caizergues-Ferrer M (1990) Mol. Cell. Biol. 10: 430–434

    Google Scholar 

  20. Stanley KK & Luzio JP (1984) EMBO J. 3: 1429–1434

    Google Scholar 

  21. Marston FAO (1987) In: Glover DM (Ed.) DNA cloning: A practical approach (pp. 59) Oxford: IRL Press

    Google Scholar 

  22. Cremer K, Premkumar R & Aaronson SA (1981) J. Virol. 38: 704–711

    Google Scholar 

  23. Radsak KD, Brücher KH & Georgatos SD (1991) Europ. J. Cell Biol. 54: 299–304

    Google Scholar 

  24. Christensen ME & Banker N (1992) Cell Biol. Internat. Rep. 16: 1119–1132

    Google Scholar 

  25. Saegusa J, Yamamoto S, Iwai H & Ueda K (1990) Ind. Hlth. 28: 21–30

    Google Scholar 

  26. Goldman M, Druet P & Gleichmann E (1991) Immunol. Today 12: 223–227

    Google Scholar 

  27. Ochel M, Vohr H-W, Pfeiffer C & Gleichmann E (1991) J. Immunol. 146: 3006–3011

    Google Scholar 

  28. van Vliet E, Uhrberg M, Stein C & Gleichmann E (1993) Int. Arch. Allergy Immunol. 101: 392–401

    Google Scholar 

  29. Kubicka-Muranyi M, Behmer O, Uhrberg M, Klonowski H, Bister J & Gleichmann E (1993) Int. J. Immunopharmac 15: 151–161

    Google Scholar 

  30. Mamula MJ, Lui R-H, Janeway CA & Hardin JA (1992) J. Immunol. 149: 789–795

    Google Scholar 

  31. Mamula MJ (1993) J. Exp. Med. 177: 567–571

    Google Scholar 

  32. Lehman PV, Sercarz EE, Forsthuber T, Dayan CM & Gammon G (1993) Immunol. Today 14: 203–208

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Institut für Molekularbiologie und Tumorforschung, Phillipps-Universität Marburg, Emil-Mannkopff-Straße 2, D-35037, Marburg, Germany

    Birgit Lübben, Norbert Rottmann & Reinhard Lührmann

  2. Abteilung Immunologie, Institut für Umwelthygiene der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Auf'm Hennekamp 50, D-40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Malgorzata Kubicka-Muranyi & Ernst Gleichmann

Authors
  1. Birgit Lübben
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Norbert Rottmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Malgorzata Kubicka-Muranyi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ernst Gleichmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Reinhard Lührmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lübben, B., Rottmann, N., Kubicka-Muranyi, M. et al. The specificity of disease-associated anti-fibrillarin autoantibodies compared with that of HgCl2-induced autoantibodies. Mol Biol Rep 20, 63–73 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00996355

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00996355

Key words

  • autoimmunity
  • anti-nucleolar autoantibodies
  • scleroderma