title: Autoimmunity to La (SS-B) in vitro is related to HLA-DR3 in healthy subjects.
abstract: In patients with Sjögren's syndrome 50-90% of those who have anti-La (SS-B) in their serum are HLA-DR3 positive. To investigate the relation between DR3 and anti-La antibody production 18 healthy subjects were divided into nine pairs, each matched for age and sex, containing one DR3 positive individual and one with a different DR type. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from each pair were cultured with varying doses of pokeweed mitogen and supernatants from nine day cultures assayed for antibodies to La, nRNP/Sm, and DNA by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using purified antigens. In each case peak anti-La secretion was greater in the DR3 positive subject than in the matched DR3 negative individual; in contrast, there was no consistent difference in levels of anti-DNA or anti-nRNP/Sm secretion. This specificity of enhanced autoantibody response in healthy individuals after polyclonal activation suggests that anti-La production may be under the control of genes linked to DR3.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Immunology, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Hammersmith, London.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Venables
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rigby
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Mumford
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Markwick
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Maini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006681:HLA-D Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D015803:HLA-DR3 Antigen; D006650:Histocompatibility Testing; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008297:Male; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000097585:SS-B Antigen
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D001324:Autoantigens; D006681:HLA-D Antigens; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D015803:HLA-DR3 Antigen; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000097585:SS-B Antigen