title: Humoral autoimmune response to ribosomal P proteins in chronic Chagas heart disease.
abstract: The C terminal region of a Trypanosoma cruzi ribosomal P protein, encoded by the lambda gt11 JL5 recombinant, defined a major antigenic determinant in chronic Chagas heart disease. Immunopurified anti-JL5 antibodies were tested for anti-human ribosome reactivity by immunoblotting. They recognized the parasite ribosomal P proteins and clearly reacted with the corresponding human P proteins. The peptide R-13, that comprises the 13 C terminal residues of the JL5 recombinant and defines the specificity shared between chronic Chagas heart disease anti-JL5 antibodies and the systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) anti-P antibodies, was used to study the specificity and the IgG subclass distribution of the anti-R-13 response by ELISA. The R-13 autoepitope is recognized mainly by sera from chagasic patients, but not by sera from malaria patients. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between anti-R-13 antibody levels and anti-T. cruzi antibody titres. The anti-R-13 response was mainly restricted to the IgG1 heavy chain isotype and correlated with the anti-T. cruzi isotype distribution.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingenieria Genética y Biología Molecular (INGEBI-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Levitus
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hontebeyrie-Joskowicz
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Van Regenmortel
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Levin
mesh_terms: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology; D000917:Antibody Formation; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000145:classification; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000276:immunology; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D001323:Autoantibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; C064601:L12E protein, Trypanosoma cruzi; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins