Presence of autoantibodies against small nuclear ribonucleoprotein epitopes in Chagas' patients' sera.
We investigated the possibility that Chagas' patients develop an autoimmune response to human UsnRNPs (small nuclear ribonucleoprotein) or Sm epitopes. Using purified human UsnRNPs, we detected anti-human UsnRNPs antibodies in sera from patients suffering from Chagas' disease. The antibodies were also detected using peptide enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays containing the Sm-motif 1 domain. The latter technique showed that 61% (31/51) of the Chagas' patients' sera contained antibodies against Sm-motif 1. The detection of anti-UsnRNPs autoantibodies in Chagas' patients' sera strongly encourages further studies using animal models to determine how these autoantibodies appear.
Bach-Elias
M
M
CID-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain. mbebmc@cid.csic.es
Bahia
D
D
Teixeira
D C
DC
Cicarelli
R M
RM
D000818:Animals; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015551:Autoimmunity; D015153:Blotting, Western; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D017411:Ribonucleoproteins, Small Nuclear / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000276:immunology
D001323:Autoantibodies; D000939:Epitopes; D017411:Ribonucleoproteins, Small Nuclear