title: Detection of autoantibodies against the globular domain of human C1q in the sera of systemic lupus erythematosus patients.
abstract: The anti-C1q antibodies present in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients' sera are associated with renal involvement and the titer of these autoantibodies correlates with the clinical activity of the disease. It has previously been shown that anti-C1q antibodies bind neo-epitopes within the collagen region of human C1q. Evidence that these polyclonal autoantibodies recognize epitopes within the globular domain (gC1q) of the molecule has not been documented. In this study, we screened, using ELISA, a number of sera from SLE patients for the presence of anti-gC1q autoantibodies using recombinant globular head regions of individual A (ghA), B (ghB) and C (ghC) chains of human C1q. The recombinant proteins were used as test antigens to determine the levels of autoantibodies directed against ghA, ghB and ghC. SLE sera, containing high levels of anti-C1q antibodies, showed differentially increased binding towards ghA and ghB, which suggested that the gC1q domain can also be target of anti-C1q antibodies generated in SLE patients. Such antibodies can have severe pathophysiological consequences since these are likely to further impair the ability of C1q to clear immune complexes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University, 8 Dragan Tsankov Str., 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Ivanka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tsacheva
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Radanova
authors.forename: Nadezhda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Todorova
authors.forename: Trenka
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Argirova
authors.forename: Uday
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Kishore
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000276:immunology; D015922:Complement C1q / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D001323:Autoantibodies; D001324:Autoantigens; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D015922:Complement C1q