title: Antibodies to histones in infectious mononucleosis.
abstract: A polyspecific human monoclonal (auto)antibody, isolated from a patient in the acute phase of infectious mononucleosis, was found to react with all subfractions (H1, H2A, H2B, H3 and H4) of histones. This finding prompted us to study the occurrence of antibodies to histones in sera of patients with infectious mononucleosis. It was found that IgM binding to histones was detectable both in control and patient sera; however, sera from patients showed binding values of IgM antibodies to histones significantly higher than those of healthy controls; moreover, both in control and patient groups anti-histone IgM activity was found to correlate with serum IgM concentration. These findings suggest that anti-histone IgM antibodies belong to the class of antibodies defined as "natural antibodies" and that their increase during infectious mononucleosis is due to Epstein-Barr virus-induced polyclonal B cell activation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garzelli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manunta
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Incaprera
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bazzichi
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Conaldi
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Falcone
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology; D006657:Histones / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000032:analysis; D007244:Infectious Mononucleosis / Q000276:immunology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001323:Autoantibodies; D006657:Histones; D007075:Immunoglobulin M