Aims: To compare circulating matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) concentrations with antibodies to single and double stranded DNA (ssDNA and dsDNA) to determine their relation in inflammatory arthritic diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: Fibroblast MMP-2 and neutrophil MMP-9 were resolved by gelatin zymography and measured by densitometry. Anti-ssDNA and anti-dsDNA were de...

Polyomavirus BK reactivation is common in renal transplant recipients and may cause nephropathy with significant graft dysfunction. The induction of anti-double stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) antibodies by BKV has been described in experimental animals and during primary infection, and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus. This study evaluated the occurrence of ant...

The high avidity (HA) anti-dsDNA IgG ELISA is considered highly specific for the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The main objective of this study was to determine the performance of this test with existing assays for detecting anti-dsDNA IgG antibodies as well as assess its analytical characteristics. For method comparison studies, we investigated the correlation between the HA...

In a prospective longitudinal study 130 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were studied at least monthly for a relationship between the anti-dsDNA levels and disease activity. We observed 13 patients who developed 15 periods of exacerbations of their disease. All 15 exacerbations were preceded by a continuous increase of the anti-dsDNA levels. In 13 of the 15 exacerbations studied...

The sequence-specific recognitions between DNA and proteins are playing important roles in many biological functions. The double-stranded DNA microarrays (dsDNA microarrays) can be used to study the sequence-specific recognitions between DNAs and proteins in highly parallel way. In this paper, two different elongation processes in forming dsDNA from the immobilized oligonucleotides have been co...

The Escherichia coli RecF protein possesses a weak ATP hydrolytic activity. ATP hydrolysis leads to RecF dissociation from double-stranded (ds)DNA. The RecF protein is subject to precipitation and an accompanying inactivation in vitro when not bound to DNA. A mutant RecF protein that can bind but cannot hydrolyze ATP (RecF K36R) does not readily dissociate from dsDNA in the presence of ATP. Thi...

Force-based ligand detection is a promising method to characterize molecular complexes label-free at physiological conditions. Because conventional implementations of this technique, e.g., based on atomic force microscopy or optical traps, are low-throughput and require extremely sensitive and sophisticated equipment, this approach has to date found only limited application. We present a low-co...

Two major mechanisms for the regulation of autoreactive B cells that arise in the bone marrow are functional silencing (anergy) and deletion. Studies to date suggest that low avidity interactions between B cells and autoantigen lead to B cell silencing, whereas high avidity interactions lead to deletion. Anti-double stranded (ds) DNA antibodies represent a pathogenic autospecificity in Systemic...

at present, some clinical presentations and serological parameters such as products of complement activation and elevation of autoantibodies (e.g. dsdna antibodies), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (esr), levels of c-reactive protein (crp), or cytokines such as il-2/il-2 receptor, il-6 and il-10 are used as indirect serological markers with variable degrees of significance. to date, no specific ...