title: A cell free assay system estimating the neutralizing capacity of GM-CSF antibody using recombinant soluble GM-CSF receptor.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previously, we demonstrated that neutralizing capacity but not the concentration of GM-CSF autoantibody was correlated with the disease severity in patients with autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP)¹⁻³. As abrogation of GM-CSF bioactivity in the lung is the likely cause for autoimmune PAP⁴⁻⁵, it is promising to measure the neutralizing capacity of GM-CSF autoantibodies for evaluating the disease severity in each patient with PAP. Until now, neutralizing capacity of GM-CSF autoantibodies has been assessed by evaluating the growth inhibition of human bone marrow cells or TF-1 cells stimulated with GM-CSF⁶⁻⁸. In the bioassay system, however, it is often problematic to obtain reliable data as well as to compare the data from different laboratories, due to the technical difficulties in maintaining the cells in a constant condition.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To mimic GM-CSF binding to GM-CSF receptor on the cell surface using cell-free receptor-binding-assay.
  
  
  METHODS
  Transgenic silkworm technology was applied for obtaining a large amount for recombinant soluble GM-CSF receptor alpha (sGMRα) with high purity⁹⁻¹³. The recombinant sGMRα was contained in the hydrophilic sericin layers of silk threads without being fused to the silk proteins, and thus, we can easily extract from the cocoons in good purity with neutral aqueous solutions¹⁴(,)¹⁵. Fortunately, the oligosaccharide structures, which are critical for binding with GM-CSF, are more similar to the structures of human sGMRα than those produced by other insects or yeasts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cell-free assay system using sGMRα yielded the data with high plasticity and reliability. GM-CSF binding to sGMRα was dose-dependently inhibited by polyclonal GM-CSF autoantibody in a similar manner to the bioassay using TF-1 cells, indicating that our new cell-free assay system using sGMRα is more useful for the measurement of neutralizing activity of GM-CSF autoantibodies than the bioassay system using TF-1 cell or human bone marrow cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We established a cell-free assay quantifying the neutralizing capacity of GM-CSF autoantibody.
authors: Bioscience Medical Research Center, Niigata University Medical and Dental Hospital.
authors: Shinya
authors: S
authors: Urano
authors: Ryushi
authors: R
authors: Tazawa
authors: Takahito
authors: T
authors: Nei
authors: Natsuki
authors: N
authors: Motoi
authors: Masato
authors: M
authors: Watanabe
authors: Takenori
authors: T
authors: Igarashi
authors: Masahiro
authors: M
authors: Tomita
authors: Koh
authors: K
authors: Nakata
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D012831:Bombyx; D002474:Cell-Free System; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D000073718:Pancreatitis-Associated Proteins; D016187:Receptors, Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D057134:Antibodies, Neutralizing; D001323:Autoantibodies; D000073718:Pancreatitis-Associated Proteins; C000612141:REG3A protein, human; D016187:Receptors, Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D016178:Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor