Whither genetic analysis of human autoantibodies?

• Published in: Clinical and experimental immunology 1993-07, Vol.93 (1), p.9-10
• Main Author: STAINES, N. A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibodies, Antinuclear - genetics; Autoantibodies - genetics; B-Lymphocytes - immunology; DNA, Single-Stranded - analysis; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; Genes, Immunoglobulin; Humans
• ISSN: 0009-9104; 1365-2249
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2249.1993.tb06489.x

Autoantibodies are found in healthy people and in others with disease. In the latter, their high titre and characteristic fine specificity may imply that the autoantibodies are uniquely associated with the disease process. What then are the characteristics of antibodies that associate with disease and those that are seen in health? Clearly there are differences of antibody class, and in humans natural autoantibodies are predominantly of the IgM isotype and pathogenic autoantibodies are mostly IgG. The approach taken in this issue by Daley and colleagues has allowed the precise description of the V sub(H) and V sub(L) gene sequences of a MoAb that has been derived from the tonsilar lymphocytes of a healthy child and which reacts with single stranded DNA (ssDNA). This is an example of an autoantibody coded by genes that have been shown before to code for autoantibodies: it has a V sub(H) region encoded by a gene derived from VH4.18 which is a member of the VHIV subgroup--well recognized as a family of genes especially involved in encoding autoantibodies. Its V sub(L) gene is derived from Hum1L1 of the V lambda I subgroup, also found expressed in other autoantibodies.