PURPOSE Macular telangiectasia type 2 (MacTel-2) is a retinal disease that can cause loss of central vision. To gain better understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of MacTel-2, we investigated antigens that prompt the generation of retinal autoantibodies in the serum of patients with MacTel-2. METHODS We screened for the presence of retinal autoantibodies in 45 serum samples collected ...

It is now well established that autoantibodies are found in a number of disease conditions such as Hashimoto's disease and primary hypothyroidism (Roitt and Doniach, 1958, 1960; Buchanan and Harden, 1965), pernicious anaemia (Doniach, Roitt, and Taylor, 1963; Irvine, 1965), and some connective tissue diseases, notably rheumatoid arthritis (Vaughan, 1959; Singer, 1961; Christian, 1963) and syste...

OBJECTIVE To search for novel autoantibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in an effort to better understand the processes of joint destruction in this disease. METHODS Using a modified SEREX technique and complementary DNA derived from RA synovium, serpin E2 was identified as a novel autoantigen and was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Levels of anti-serpin E2 autoantibodies in...

Clinically, antibodies against sperm are found in 3% to 12% of men who undergo evaluation for infertility and can be found in the serum, seminal plasma or sperm-bound. As antibodies in the serum cannot logistically bind to sperm unless they transudate into semen, these immunoglobulins are considered clinically less important than sperm-bound antibodies. The presence of anti-sperm antibodies in ...

We developed rapid 24-h immunoblot assays for detecting autoantibodies to Scl 70 and Jo 1 antigens in serum. In comparative studies, we evaluated the analytical sensitivity of the immunoblot assays and commercial immunodiffusion assays for anti-Scl 70 and anti-Jo 1 autoantibodies with the use of positive control sera, and compared the frequencies of positive and negative results in a group of 1...

The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is associated with thrombosis and fetal death but the pathologic mechanisms are poorly understood. Since endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) plays a role in the anticoagulant system and in placental development, we hypothesized that anti-EPCR autoantibodies may be involved in clinical manifestations of APS and in fetal loss. The levels of immunoglobulin M (...

Idiosyncratic drug-induced hepatitis (IDDIH) is the third most common cause for acute liver failure in the United States. Previous studies have attempted to identify susceptible patients or early stages of disease with various degrees of success. To determine if total serum immunoglobulin subclasses, CYP2E1-specific subclass autoantibodies, complement components, or immune complexes could disti...

BACKGROUND Antibodies to the beta1-adrenergic receptor (beta1AR) are detected in a substantial number of patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The mechanism whereby these autoantibodies exert their pathogenic effect is unknown. Here, we define a causal mechanism whereby beta1AR-specific autoantibodies mediate noninflammatory cardiomyocyte cell death during murine DCM. METHODS...

Autoantibodies in hepatitis C virus-infected patients may indicate autoimmune hepatitis or other immune-mediated diseases. This may impact safety and efficacy of interferon-based therapy of chronic hepatitis C. We investigated the association between a positive test result for a variety of autoantibodies and the initiation and efficacy of therapy for chronic hepatitis C. We analysed an observat...

The appearance of autoantibody to DNA followed sequentially by the disappearance of anti-DNA and appearance of DNA antigen in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus demonstrated that autoantibodies participate in immune complex-mediated pathogenesis. Continuing studies showed that autoantibodies are also useful biomarkers in clinical diagnosis and important reagents for elucidating the str...