A method has been devised for the electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets. The method results in quantitative transfer of ribosomal proteins from gels containing urea. For sodium dodecyl sulfate gels, the original band pattern was obtained with no loss of resolution, but the transfer was not quantitative. The method allows detection of proteins by autoradiography and is simpler than conventional procedures. The immobilized proteins were detectable by immunological procedures. All additional binding capacity on the nitrocellulose was blocked with excess protein; then a specific antibody was bound and, finally, a second antibody directed against the first antibody. The second antibody was either radioactively labeled or conjugated to fluorescein or to peroxidase. The specific protein was then detected by either autoradiography, under UV light, or by the peroxidase reaction product, respectively. In the latter case, as little as 100 pg of protein was clearly detectable. It is anticipated that the procedure will be applicable to analysis of a wide variety of proteins with specific reactions or ligands.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/76/9/4350.full.pdf

Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications.

In 1982, the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Criteria Committee of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR)published revised criteria for the classification of systemiclupus erythematosus (SLE) (1). During the ensuing decade several investigators, including Drs. Graham Hughes and Donato Alarcon-Segovia, among others, have described the presence and clinical associations or antiphospholipid antibodies in patients with SLE, as well as the occurrence of theprimary antiphospholipid syndrome (2-5). In 1992, Piette and colleagues suggested that the ACR revised criteria be reevaluated in light of the above discoveries (6).

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/art.1780400928

Updating the American College of Rheumatology revised criteria for the classification of systemic lupus erythematosus.

For the purposes of classification, it should be specified whether osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is of unknown origin (idiopathic, primary) or is related to a known medical condition or event (secondary). Clinical criteria for the classification of idiopathic OA of the knee were developed through a multicenter study group. Comparison diagnoses included rheumatoid arthritis and other painful conditions of the knee, exclusive of referred or para-articular pain. Variables from the medical history, physical examination, laboratory tests, and radiographs were used to develop sets of criteria that serve different investigative purposes. In contrast to prior criteria, these proposed criteria utilize classification trees, or algorithms.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/art.1780290816

Development of criteria for the classification and reporting of osteoarthritis: Classification of osteoarthritis of the knee

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1538-7836.2006.01753.x

International consensus statement on an update of the classification criteria for definite antiphospholipid syndrome (APS).

The New York and the Rome diagnostic criteria for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and the clinical history screening test for AS were evaluated in relatives of AS patients and in population control subjects. The New York criterion of pain in the (dorso) lumbar spine lacks specificity, and the chest expansion criterion is too insensitive. The Rome criterion of low back pain for more than 3 months is very useful. Our study showed the clinical history screening test for AS to be moderately sensitive, but it might be better in clinical practice. As a modification of the New York criteria, substitution of the Rome pain criterion for the New York pain criterion is proposed.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/art.1780270401

Evaluation of diagnostic criteria for ankylosing spondylitis. A proposal for modification of the New York criteria.

In scleroderma a profusion of circulating autoantibodies have now been defined. They include autoantibodies to Scl-70 or DNA topoisomerase 1, and to centromere/kinetochore proteins of 17.80 and 140 kilodaltons. In addition, there are several antigens which are resident primarily in the nucleolus and they are RNA polymerase 1, PM-Scl, fibrillarin and 7-2 ribonucleoprotein. Antibody to Scl-70 has been found primarily in the diffuse form of scleroderma and antibody to the centromere/kinetochore proteins in the CREST (calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactyly and telangiectasia) subset of scleroderma. Autoantibodies to the nucleolar antigens RNA polymerase 1, PM-Scl, fibrillarin and 7-2 RNP have been detected in at least 10% of all patients with scleroderma. For several reasons which are discussed, it appears that the autoantibody response in scleroderma is antigen-driven and further that the autoantigens involved in this disease are present at some time in the nucleolus. These observations may be providing clues to some of the basic mechanisms initiating autoimmunity.

Autoantibodies in scleroderma.

The specificity of the in vivo humoral immune response elicited by procainamide was examined by solid-phase assays, immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitation and a cytotoxicity assay. Serial samples obtained from patients during their procainamide therapy showed a progressive increase in antibodies to histones and denatured DNA, and both activities decreased after discontinuation of therapy. In contrast antibodies to tetanus, human IgG (rheumatoid factor) and heterologous lymphocytes were unaffected by procainamide treatment, indicating that they were not drug-induced. Of 29 sera examined by protein-A-facilitated immunoprecipitation, four sera had antibody to ribosomal RNA and three sera immunoprecipitated a 40kD protein. Antinuclear antibodies were invariably present but absorption studies showed that these activities were due to anti-histone antibodies. These results indicate that procainamide-induced autoimmunity is characterized predominantly by an anti-histone and anti-denatured DNA immune response.

Procainamide elicits a selective autoantibody immune response.

Sm antigen from rabbit thymus acetone powder was purified using a combination of ammonium sulphate precipitation, DEAE-Sephacel and hydroxyapatite chromatography. This preparation was devoid of previously identified nuclear antigens including ribonucleoprotein (U1-RNP), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), Sjogren's syndrome antigen A (SS-A/Ro), Sjogren's syndrome antigen B (SS-B/La), Sjogren's lupus antigen (SL), scleroderma antigen 70 (Scl-70), DNA and histones. The purified material was used in an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect anti-Sm antibody. All sera with precipitating Sm antibody detected by immunodiffusion gave reactions in ELISA greater than 0.40 OD405 and contained predominantly IgG anti-Sm antibody. Of 112 sera which did not have anti-Sm by immunodiffusion there were five which gave reactions greater than 0.40 OD405. Four of these five sera contained only IgM antibody and the fifth contained both IgM and IgG. Of these five, one came from a 'normal' control who had a positive anti-nuclear antibody (ANA), facial rash and diabetes, two were from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and two were from patients with mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD). These findings demonstrate that there are patients whose anti-Sm response may be restricted to IgM and in some of these patients the clinical presentation may be different from that of classical SLE.

Purification of the Sm nuclear autoantigen. Detection and clinical significance of IgM antibody.

Antinuclear autoantibodies (ANAs) derived from patients with systemic autoimmune diseases have proven to be powerful tools in cell and molecular biology. The availability of these autoantibodies has been instrumental in the identification and characterization of a wide range of intracellular proteins involved in essential cellular activities. Recently, these autoantibodies have been used in molecular studies of apoptosis, particularly in the identification of substrates cleaved by proteases of the ICE/CED-3 family during this cell death pathway. The identification of these substrates may help to understand the role of proteolysis in apoptosis. Examples of nuclear autoantigens whose cleavage during apoptosis have been defined using ANAs include the 70 kD protein of the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle (U1-70 kD), the nuclear mitotic apparatus protein (NuMA), DNA topoisomerase I, the RNA polymerase I upstream binding factor (UBF), and the catalytic subunit of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PKcs). The use of ANAs as probes for defining proteolytic events associated with apoptosis promises to yield important insights into the mechanisms driving this cell death pathway.

/pdf/antinuclear-autoantibodies-probes-for-defining-proteolytic-4165hx84e3.pdf

Antinuclear autoantibodies: probes for defining proteolytic events associated with apoptosis

Serum factors activating the alternative pathway of complement in vitro, independent of classical pathway activation was demonstrated in six of eleven patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). These serum factors were detected by lysis of gluthathione-sensitized human erythrocytes and by C3 and factor B conversion in the presence of EGTA (10 mM) and MgCl2 (0-3 mM), conditions which blocked activation of the classical pathway but permitted activation of the alternative pathway. In order to determine if in vivo activation of the alternative pathway of complement was present in SLE, highly-purified factor B was labelled with radioactive iodine (125I), and its metabolism studied in the eleven patients with SLE and in twelve control subjects. All six patients with serum factors capable of activating the alternative pathway in vitro, had in vivo evidence of alternative pathway activation as measured by increased fractional catabolic rate (FCR) of factor B. Two patients without demonstrable alternative pathway activating factors in their sera had an elevated FCR of factor B. Six of the patients with increased FCR of factor B had disease limited to skin or joint and one had lupus nephritis which was inactive at the time of study. One of the four patients who were in clinical remission had elevated FCR. This study demonstrates that a significant number of patients with SLE of relatively mild disease activity had evidence of alternative complement pathway activation. This activation did not appear to be limited to patients with lupus nephritis and raises the possibility that it could also be related to some of the extra-renal manifestations of SLE.

Eng M. Tan

Papers

Autoantibodies in scleroderma.

Procainamide elicits a selective autoantibody immune response.

Purification of the Sm nuclear autoantigen. Detection and clinical significance of IgM antibody.

Antinuclear autoantibodies: probes for defining proteolytic events associated with apoptosis

Activation of the alternative complement pathway in systemic lupus erythematosus.