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True Antibodies to DNA in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Activity of Fab and F(ab′)2 Fragments

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Abstract

SERA of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) react with DNA, as demonstrated by standard immunological techniques1–4. The localization of activity to immunoglobulins further suggests that this reaction is to be attributed to an antibody to DNA4,5, but it is not excluded that a non-immunological mechanism is involved. Interactions of normal immunoglobulins and complement components with DNA have been demonstrated in particular conditions6,7, and the reaction of SLE sera could result from accentuation of these nonspecific phenomena. Reactions of precipitation, complement fixation and even the Arthus phenomenon have been shown to result from protein-immunoglobulin interaction in the absence of an actual antibody, as in the case of Staphylococcus aureus protein A8,9. Further, DNA is a weakly immunogenic material, which induces antibodies in experimental animals only when conjugated to a carrier molecule4.

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Author notes

  1. ALLEN P. KAPLAN

    Present address: Robert B. Brigham Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

  2. THEODORE PINCUS: Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arthritis and Rheumatism Branch, National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health, DHEW, Bethesda, Maryland, 20014

    THEODORE PINCUS & ALLEN P. KAPLAN

Authors
  1. THEODORE PINCUS
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  2. ALLEN P. KAPLAN
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PINCUS, T., KAPLAN, A. True Antibodies to DNA in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Activity of Fab and F(ab′)2 Fragments. Nature 227, 394–395 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/227394a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/227394a0

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