Separation of anti-histone antibodies from nonimmune histone-precipitating serum proteins, predominantly alpha2-macroglobulin.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B D Stollar.
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Antibodies specific for intact 7-methylguanosine (m7G) were induced in rabbits and mice by immunization with nucleoside-BSA or nucleoside-hemocyanin conjugates. Since m7G undergoes alkali-catalyzed hydrolytic fission of the purine ring, modifications were made in the procedure for conjugation of m7G to proteins. After periodate oxidation, m7G was incubated with protein at pH 9.1 at 4 degrees C for one hour during which the nucleoside was found to be stable. Reduction of the Schiff base was done with t-butylamine borane for 30 minutes, and the conjugated protein was isolated quickly by gel filtration at pH 7.2. Both rabbits and mice produced antibodies that readily distinguished between the intact and hydrolyzed m7G. Antibody specificity depended largely on the presence of an intact 7-substituted imidazole ring and some cross-reaction occurred with 7-methylinosine. A weaker reaction occurred with ribothymidine and thymidine. Mouse antibodies induced by m7G-hemocyanin showed the highest specificity. They also recognized m7G in the isolated mRNA cap structure m7G(5')ppp(5')A.
Although poly(I) is generally considered to be inactive as an interferon inducer, we have found several authentic poly(I) preparations to be effective inducers. Their interferon inducing ability varied considerably from one cell system to another. In human diploid fibroblasts, primed with interferon and superinduced by cycloheximide and actinomycin D, all active poly(I) samples proved nearly as effective in inducing interferon as poly(I).poly(C). In primary rabbit kidney cell cultures, the active poly(I) samples were either as active, or 3 to 30 times less active than poly(I).poly(C). In intact rabbits they were 100 times less active than poly(I).poly(C). Except for one particular sample, all active poly(I) preparations were inferior to poly(I).poly(C) when assayed for interferon induction in interferon-treated mouse L cells; in DEAE-dextran-treated L cells, they induced little, if any, interferon. The poly(I) inducers of interferon were considerably more susceptible to degradation by TI ribonuclease, pancreatic ribonuclease and human serum nuclease(s) than was poly(I).poly(C) when assayed under the same conditions. Due to their limited half-life time in biological fluids, poly(I) analogues such as those described here may offer a greater safety margin in clinical use than poly(I).poly(C).
Adult female (NZB + NZW)F1 mice were treated with cortisone, cortisone with tolerogen (isologous NZB IgG-nucleosides conjugates) or cortisone with isologous IgG free of nucleosides. Other treatments also included tolerogen or isologous IgG alone, and cortisone together with denatured DNA. All untreated mice died by 10 mo of age. Cortisone prolonged the survival rate. This effect was further improved by combined treatment of cortisone and tolerogen. Prolonged survival was accompanied by a decrease in proteinuria. Other treatments failed to influence either survival or proteinuria. Although cortisone did not prevent the appearance of antibody to denatured DNA, cortisone and tolerogen suppressed them in most of the animals. Preexisting antibody to denatured DNA was reduced by cortisone and cortisone and tolerogen, but not by cortisone and IgG. In contrast, antibody to native DNA bore no relationship to therapy. Animals living beyond 1 yr of age, regardless of the treatment, fall into three histopathological categories: (a) severe nephritis, as in untreated animals, (b) moderate nephritis (with absence of severe alteration of the glomerular basement membrane, i.e. the histological counterpart of prolonged survival), (c) minimal nephritis. In a small number of animals treated with cortisone or cortisone and IgG and in 6/20 animals treated with cortisone and tolerogen, minimal lesions as judged by light, fluorescent, and electron microscopy were found. These last mice were in good health at 15-16 mo of age, twice the life-span of untreated mice. In conclusion, these data suggest that tolerance to nucleic acid antigens facilitated by cortisone offers a promising new approach to treat established murine lupus nephritis.
Changes in the relative amount of two histone H2A subfractions have been observed in cells at different proliferative stages of Friend leukemia. Biochemical analyses of the purified H2A subfractions reveal them to be different in primary structure, and not the result of postsynthetic modifications of the same parent protein. Antibodies raised against the purified H2A.2 subfraction cross react with H2A.1 and H2A.2, but show high specificity for the immunizing subfraction at higher sera dilutions. Only H2A.2 contains a methionine which appears critical to an antigenic difference that immunologically distinguishes H2A.2 from H2A.1. The observed change in the relative amounts of two nonallelic variants of a histone coincident with changes in the physiologic states of the cell may indicate a correlation between genome structure and function.
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Since its original development by Jerne, the haemolytic plaque assay has increased our understanding of antibody formation to a wide variety of antigens, including proteins, lipopolysaccharides, and simple haptens. We have now developed an assay to detect plaque forming cells (PFC) making anti-nucleoside antibodies. Previously we reported the suppression of circulating antibody to DNA determinants by nucleoside-IgG conjugates. Here we show that BALB/c mice can be rendered tolerant in terms of both direct and indirect anti-nucleoside antibody forming cells and that the state of tolerance is nucleoside-specific at the cellular level.
Rabbit antibodies to the triple-helical polynucleotide poly(A)-poly(U)-poly(I) were fractionated into three major antibody populations, each recognizing a different conformational feature of the triple-helical immunogen. Two distinct populations were purified from precipitates made with poly(A)-poly(U)-poly(U) and poly(A)-poly(I)-poly(I). The former reacted with double-stranded poly(A)-poly(U) or poly(I)-poly(C), and similar populations could be purified with either double-stranded form. The second population recognized the poly(A)-poly(I) region of the triple helix, and the third required all three strands for reactivity. These immunochemical studies suggest that the poly(A) and poly(U) have the same orientation in the triple-helicical poly(A)-poly(U)-poly(I) as in the double-helical poly(A)-poly(U), in which they have Watson-Crick base pairing.
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Rabbit IgM antibodies to denatured mammalian or T6 bacteriophage DNA or poly(A)-poly(U) irreversibly lost complement-(C) fixation reactivity on exposure to low pH and reneutralization, with a halving of the complement-fixation titer occurring after treatment at about pH 3. The titers of IgG antibodies to denatured phage DNA, to poly(A)-poly(U), or to hemocyanin were halved only after exposure to pH 2. Inactivation by acid was enhanced by low protein concentrations, incubation at higher temperatures, and by slow reneutralization; under all these conditions it was more extensive with IgM than with IgG. Inactivation of IgM C-fixation activity at pH 2.5 and room temperature was a first order reaction, with a half-time of about 20 min. Both classes retained antigen-binding activity after exposure to pH 2. In the alkaline range, full C-fixation reactivity was retained by both classes after reneutralization from pH 11.5, some loss occurred at pH 12, and total irreversible inactivation occurred by pH 12.5. In the latter case, antigen-binding activity was also lost. The C-fixation inactivation curves in the alkaline range were similar for IgG and IgM antibodies.
Induction of tolerance to nucleoside haptens in BALB/c mice with isologous IgG conjugates bearing four nucleosides simultaneously (A, G, C, T)-IgG was confirmed. A mixture of separate nucleoside-IgG tolerogens (A-IgG, G-IgG, C-IgG, and T-IgG) was as effective or more effective that the (A, G, C,T)-IgG form in suppressing the response to (A, G, C, T)-KLH. The nucleosides acted independently and simultaneously, since tolerogens with varying combinations of nucleosides caused specific suppression of the respones to only those nucleosides present on the tolerogen. Nucleoside-IgG conjugates did not suppress the response to denatured DNA-methylated bovine serum albumin, in which larger oligonucleotide determinants predominate. In varying combinations, guanosine was the dominant nucleoside both for immunization and for induction of tolerance. After three or four immunizations, control immunized animals made mainly IgG anti-nucleoside antibodies and this IgG antibody formation was preferentially suppressed in tolerogen-treated animals. Tolerance could be established before the primary or secondary immunization and it then persisted for at least 75 days through a fourth course of immunization. The same dosage of tolerogen did not reverse a strongly established anti-nucleoside antibody production after a tertiary response.