title: Prevalence and antigen specificity of anti-histone antibodies in patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis.
abstract: Anti-histone antibodies have been detected in the sera of patients with various autoimmune diseases. The existence of anti-histone antibodies in patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis, however, has not been reported. We found anti-histone antibodies in eight (17%) of 46 sera from patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. One serum was positive for both IgG anti-histone antibodies and IgM anti-histone antibodies. Six sera were positive only for IgG anti-histone antibodies. One serum was positive only for IgM anti-histone antibodies. An indirect immunofluorescence analysis using HEp-2 cells as the substrate showed that all sera positive for anti-histone antibodies produced homogeneous nuclear fluorescence. This immunofluorescence pattern disappeared after absorption of anti-histone activity with total histones. An immunoblotting analysis demonstrated that the anti-histone antibodies were predominantly directed against histone H1 in all seven sera with IgG anti-histone antibodies. Weak reactivity with H2B and H4 were also found in three sera from the patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis. Sera from two patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis displayed anti-H2A and H3 activity. One of the two sera showed IgM anti-histone antibodies in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay reacted with H1, H2A, H2B, H3, and H4, whereas the other serum reacted with no fractions of total histones. The activity of anti-histone antibodies disappeared in immunoblotting after absorption with total histones. All of the patients with anti-histone antibodies were free from lung fibrosis or internal malignancies. Thus, our data indicate that the presence of anti-histone antibodies is classified as one of the serologic abnormalities observed in polymyositis/dermatomyositis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ihn
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yazawa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kikuchi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tamaki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000918:Antibody Specificity / Q000276:immunology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D002460:Cell Line; D003882:Dermatomyositis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006657:Histones / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017285:Polymyositis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D006657:Histones; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007075:Immunoglobulin M