title: Biological autoimmunity screening in hepatitis C patients by anti-HepG2 lysate and anti-heat shock protein 70.1 autoantibodies.
abstract: Viruses require viral and cellular chaperones during their life cycle and interactions of these molecules with the immune system are probable during the infection. Thus, an anti-chaperone antibody response has been firstly investigated in hepatitis C patients in this paper. A HepG2-lysate antigen (90, 79, 72, 70, 62, 54 and 48 kDa) was assayed in sera from 59 (19F/40M) chronic hepatitis C patients without cirrhosis before therapy. Forty of them were positive for anti-HepG2 lysate antigen antibodies and this test may evaluate biological autoimmunity. Hsp70.1, Hsp90 and calreticulin levels were significantly higher in this antigen than in a control HepG2 antigen. Secondly, Hsp70.1 was identified as Hsp 70 kDa protein-1 by proteomic analysis and studied as a possible antibody target. Fourteen out of 59 patients were positive for anti-Hsp70.1 antibodies that were inversely correlated with alanine aminotransferase levels, the Metavir activity index and viraemia. Finally, for comparative purposes, 50 sera from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients have been tested: eight and 41 of them were positive for anti-Hsp70.1 and anti-HepG2 lysate antigen antibodies, respectively. Therefore, anti-Hsp70.1 autoantibodies may be produced and can partially lead to biological autoimmunity in chronic hepatitis C patients.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Immunologie du Département de Biologie et Pathologie de la Cellule, CHU de Grenoble, Hôpital Michalon, BP 217X, 38043, Grenoble, France. BChumpitazi@chu-grenoble.fr
authors.forename: B F F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Chumpitazi
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bouillet
authors.forename: M-T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Drouet
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kuhn
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garin
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Zarski
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Drouet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D015551:Autoimmunity; D002460:Cell Line; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000276:immunology; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D051272:Glucose Transporter Type 1; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; C495677:SLC2A1 protein, human; C081884:heat-shock protein 70.1