title: Anti-tubulin autoantibodies in acquired demyelinating polyneuropathies.
abstract: Selective high-titer anti-tubulin autoantibodies are associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). Low-titer anti-tubulin autoantibodies are a normal component of some human sera. Analysis of 7 human sera with monoclonal anti-tubulin autoantibodies showed that the epitopes recognized by these antibodies are within central, conserved regions of tubulin. Sera from 3 patients with IgM monoclonal antibodies and CIDP reacted to an epitope spanning aa 301-314 of beta-tubulin, which has some sequence homology to several human viruses. Natural polyclonal anti-tubulin antibodies also bind to central regions of tubulin. In contrast, polyclonal tubulin antibodies induced in mice react to epitopes on the amino- or carboxy-terminal. Selective polyclonal anti-tubulin autoantibodies with low reactivity to other neural antigens are found in about one-half of patients with CIDP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Saint Louis Children's Hospital, Washington University School of Medicine, Missouri 63110, USA.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pestronk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000276:immunology; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D011115:Polyneuropathies / Q000276:immunology*; D011129:Polyradiculoneuropathy / Q000276:immunology*; D014404:Tubulin / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D001323:Autoantibodies; D000939:Epitopes; D014404:Tubulin