title: Antigen binding characteristics of antibodies induced against nitric oxide modified plasmid DNA.
abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) generated by the reduction of sodium nitrite with sodium dithionite caused damage to plasmid Bluescript DNA leading to strand breaks and base modifications. The NO-plasmid DNA was highly immunogenic in rabbits. The antibody activity was inhibited to the extent of 86% with the immunogen as inhibitor, indicating the induction of immunogen specific antibodies. However, delineating the antigenic specificity of anti-NO-plasmid DNA antibodies by competition ELISA, multiple cross-reactivity was observed. The antibodies recognised B-, A- and allied conformations. The visual detection of immune complex formation with native and NO-plasmid DNA reiterated preferential binding with modified plasmid DNA. DNA modified by nitric oxide presents unique epitopes which may be one of the factors in antigen-driven autoimmune response in systemic lupus erythematosus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002, India.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dixit
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ali
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex / Q000032:analysis; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology; D003429:Cross Reactions; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D010957:Plasmids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D001323:Autoantibodies; D009569:Nitric Oxide