Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

I R Mackay

Publications and source records attributed to I R Mackay.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

The lymphoid liver: considerations on pathways to autoimmune injury.

Immunologic injury in the liver involves immigrant T and B lymphocytes and a resident lymphoid population that comprises distinct lymphocytic cells and accessory cells. The forerunner to autoimmunity is breaching of natural self-tolerance and hence the disruption of a fundamental property of the immune system. Such breaching occurs by processes that include inflammatory activation of immunocytes and macrophages, spillage of intracellular constituents, and epitope mimicry by constituents of microorganisms, with these acting on a genetically conditional phenotype; compounding factors include aberrations of apoptosis, whether insufficient or excess. The downstream end requires specifically directed inflammatory leukocyte traffic as an essential component of autoimmune expressions in the liver. The culmination is an orchestrated attack on hepatocytes or biliary epithelial cells by multiple effector pathways. Progress in type 1 autoimmune hepatitis still requires knowledge of a disease-specific autoantigen(s) involved in T-cell reactivity, although such knowledge in type 2 autoimmune hepatitis, in which the known autoantigen is cytochrome P4502D6, has not yet been integrated into a clearly defined scheme of pathogenesis. For PBC there has been a very promising amalgamation of molecular knowledge of the mitochondrial autoantigens. Future insights require deeper analysis of molecular, genetic, macroenvironmental, and microenvironmental elements in predisposition.

Animals↗

A comparative study of antibody expressions in primary biliary cirrhosis and autoimmune cholangitis using phage display.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and autoimmune cholangitis (AIC) are serologic expressions of an autoimmune liver disease affecting biliary ductular cells. Previously we screened a phage-displayed random peptide library with polyclonal IgG from 2 Australian patients with PBC and derived peptides that identified a single conformational (discontinuous) epitope in the inner lipoyl domain of the E2 subunit of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC-E2), the characteristic autoantigen in PBC. Here we have used phage display to investigate the reactivity of PBC sera from 2 ethnically and geographically distinct populations, Japanese and Australian, and the 2 serologic expressions, PBC and AIC. Random 7-mer and 12-mer peptide libraries were biopanned with IgG from 3 Japanese patients with PBC and 3 with AIC who did not have anti-PDC-E2. The phage clones (phagotopes) obtained were tested by capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for reactivity with affinity-purified anti-PDC-E2, and compared with those obtained from Australian patients with PBC. Peptide sequences of the derived phagotopes and sequences derived by biopanning with irrelevant antisera were aligned to develop a guide tree based on physicochemical similarity. Both Australian and Japanese PBC-derived phagotopes were distributed in branches of the guide tree that contained the peptide sequences MH and FV previously identified as part of an immunodominant conformational epitope of PDC-E2, indicating that epitope selection was not influenced by the racial origin of the PBC sera. Biopanning with either PBC or AIC-derived IgG yielded phagotopes that reacted with anti-PDC-E2 by capture ELISA, further establishing that there is a similar autoimmune targeting in PBC and AIC.

Adult↗

Familial early-onset type 2 diabetes in Chinese patients: obesity and genetics have more significant roles than autoimmunity.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the prevalence of different forms of diabetes in Hong Kong Chinese patients with familial early-onset type 2 diabetes and compared their clinical features with patients with familial late-onset type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: A total of 145 young patients with early-onset diabetes (age and age at diagnosis < or = 40 years) and a family history of diabetes were studied. They were screened for mutations in the genes encoding glucokinase, hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)-4alpha, and HNF-1alpha. The mitochondrial DNA A-->G at nucleotide 3243 (mt3243) and amyLin S20G mutations were studied, and antibodies to GAD (anti-GADs) were also examined. RESULTS: The prevalence of putative diabetogenic gene mutations and autoimmune markers were 4% for glucokinase, 0% for HNF-4alpha, 5% for HNF-1alpha, 3% for mt3243, 2% for amylin 520G, and 4% for anti-GAD. Compared with late-onset patients, the patients with early-onset diabetes had a higher prevalence of a parental history of diabetes and were generally more obese. When classified by obesity indexes (BMI and waist circumference), the obese patients, especially those with early-onset diabetes, had a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors and increased rates of retinopathy and albuminuria. CONCLUSIONS; Genetic factors (up to 14%) and obesity (55%) play more significant roles than autoimmunity (4%) in familial type 2 diabetes in young Chinese patients. The significance of obesity-related genes and other gene-gene and gene-environment interactions in these young patients remains to be determined.

Adult↗

Antibodies to SOX13 (ICA12) are associated with type 1 diabetes.

SOX13 is an islet cell autoantigen (ICA12), identified by antibody screening of an islet cDNA library, using sera from patients with Type 1 diabetes. We ascertained the frequency of antibody reactivity to SOX13 and compared it with other Type 1 diabetes autoantibody reactivities. Antibodies were measured by radioimmunoprecipitation (RIP) using (35) S labelled SOX13 expressed in rabbit reticulocyte lysate. Sera from 109 subjects with Type 1 diabetes, 29 with Type 2 diabetes, 144 with other autoimmune diseases and from 201 controls were tested for anti-SOX13, and results were compared with the frequency of antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (anti-GAD), islet cell antigen 512 (anti-ICA512) and islet cell cytoplasm (ICA). Anti-SOX13 were detected in 20 (18.3%) of 109 subjects with Type 1 diabetes, and more frequently in adults than in children (29% vs 10%). Anti-SOX13 usually occurred with anti-GAD but rarely with anti-ICA512. Seven sera positive for anti-SOX13 did not react with either GAD, ICA512 or islet cell cytoplasm indicating that anti-SOX13 represented a distinct population of antibodies. Reactivity to SOX13 represents a further autoantibody response in adults with Type 1 diabetes and may provide a useful disease marker in subjects in whom other autoantibody tests are negative.

Adolescent↗

Conformational epitopes on the diabetes autoantigen GAD65 identified by peptide phage display and molecular modeling.

The major diabetes autoantigen, glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD65), contains a region of sequence similarity, including six identical residues PEVKEK, to the P2C protein of coxsackie B virus, suggesting that cross-reactivity between coxsackie B virus and GAD65 can initiate autoimmune diabetes. We used the human islet cell mAbs MICA3 and MICA4 to identify the Ab epitopes of GAD65 by screening phage-displayed random peptide libraries. The identified peptide sequences could be mapped to a homology model of the pyridoxal phosphate (PLP) binding domain of GAD65. For MICA3, a surface loop containing the sequence PEVKEK and two adjacent exposed helixes were identified in the PLP binding domain as well as a region of the C terminus of GAD65 that has previously been identified as critical for MICA3 binding. To confirm that the loop containing the PEVKEK sequence contributes to the MICA3 epitope, this loop was deleted by mutagenesis. This reduced binding of MICA3 by 70%. Peptide sequences selected using MICA4 were rich in basic or hydroxyl-containing amino acids, and the surface of the GAD65 PLP-binding domain surrounding Lys358, which is known to be critical for MICA4 binding, was likewise rich in these amino acids. Also, the two phage most reactive with MICA4 encoded the motif VALxG, and the reverse of this sequence, LAV, was located in this same region. Thus, we have defined the MICA3 and MICA4 epitopes on GAD65 using the combination of phage display, molecular modeling, and mutagenesis and have provided compelling evidence for the involvement of the PEVKEK loop in the MICA3 epitope.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Prediction of the immunodominant epitope of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex E2 in primary biliary cirrhosis using phage display.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is an autoimmune liver disease characterized by autoantibodies reactive with the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. A conformational epitope has been mapped to aa 91-227 within the inner lipoyl domain of the E2 subunit (pyruvate dehydrogenase complex E2 (PDC-E2)). We have used phage display to further localize this epitope. A random heptapeptide library was screened using IgG from two patients with PBC, with negative selection using pooled normal IgG. Phage that contained peptide inserts (phagotopes) selected using PBC sera differed from those selected using IgG from patients with RA or polychondritis. Two motifs occurred only among the PBC-selected phagotopes; these were MH (13 sequences, 16 phagotopes) and FV (FVEHTRW, FVEIYSP, FVLPWRI). The phagotopes selected were tested for reactivity with anti-PDC-E2 affinity purified from four patients with PBC. Phagotopes that contained 1 of 15 different peptide sequences were reactive with one or more of these four anti-PDC-E2 preparations, whereas phagotopes that contained 1of the remaining 28 sequences were negative. The peptides (FVLPWRI, MHLNTPP, MHLTQSP) encoded by three phagotopes that were strongly reactive with all four preparations of anti-PDC-E2 were synthesized. Each of the selected peptides, but not an irrelevant peptide, inhibited the reactivity by ELISA of PBC serum with recombinant PDC-E2 and reduced the inhibition of the enzyme activity of PDC by a PBC serum. The peptide sequences, along with the known NMR structure of the inner lipoyl domain of PDC-E2, allow the prediction of nonsequential residues 131HM132 and 178FEV180 that contribute to a conformational epitope.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Monoclonal antibody screening of a phage-displayed random peptide library reveals mimotopes of chemokine receptor CCR5: implications for the tertiary structure of the receptor and for an N-terminal binding site for HIV-1 gp120.

The chemokine receptor CCR5 contains seven transmembrane-spanning domains. It binds chemokines and acts as co-receptor for macrophage (m)-tropic (or R5) strains of HIV-1. Monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to CCR5, 3A9 and 5C7, were used for biopanning a nonapeptide cysteine (C)-constrained phage-displayed random peptide library to ascertain contact residues and define tertiary structures of possible epitopes on CCR5. Reactivity of antibodies with phagotopes was established by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). mAb 3A9 identified a phagotope C-HASIYDFGS-C (3A9 / 1), and 5C7 most frequently identified C-PHWLRDLRV-C (5C7 / 1). Corresponding peptides were synthesized. Phagotopes and synthetic peptides reacted in ELISA with corresponding antibodies and synthetic peptides inhibited antibody binding to the phagotopes. Reactivity by immunofluorescence of 3A9 with CCR5 was strongly inhibited by the corresponding peptide. Both mAb 3A9 and 5C7 reacted similarly with phagotopes and the corresponding peptide selected by the alternative mAb. The sequences of peptide inserts of phagotopes could be aligned as mimotopes of the sequence of CCR5. For phage 3A9 / 1, the motif SIYD aligned to residues at the N terminus and FG to residues on the first extracellular loop; for 5C7 / 1, residues at the N terminus, first extracellular loop, and possibly the third extracellular loop could be aligned and so would contribute to the mimotope. The synthetic peptides corresponding to the isolated phagotopes showed a CD4-dependent reactivity with gp120 of a primary, m-tropic HIV-1 isolate. Thus reactivity of antibodies raised to CCR5 against phage-displayed peptides defined mimotopes that reflect binding sites for these antibodies and reveal a part of the gp120 binding sites on CCR5.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Molecular mimicry: a critical look at exemplary instances in human diseases.

Molecular mimicry, the concept that antigenic determinants of microorganisms resemble antigenic determinants of the host, is frequently cited as a plausible mechanism to account for the association of infection and autoimmune disease. Based on analogous sequences of amino acids or on cross-reactions of monoclonal antibodies, numerous examples of such mimicry have been reported. There are, however, no clear examples of a human disease caused by molecular mimicry.

Animals↗

Autoimmune reactivity of sera to hepatocyte plasma membrane in type 1 autoimmune hepatitis.

Type 1 autoimmune hepatitis (AIH-1) is an organ-specific autoimmune liver disease for which no tissue-specific autoantigen has yet been identified. We examined the reactivity by sensitive immunoblotting with enhanced chemiluminescence (IB-ECL) of 43 sera from patients with AIH-1 and 182 sera from patients with other diseases on hepatocyte plasma membrane derived from rat or human liver (RHPM, HHPM) and separated by aqueous two-phase partition. The sera studied were from patients with AIH-1, primary biliary cirrhosis, chronic viral hepatitis, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); and from normal subjects. Specificity of reactivity by IB-ECL was sought: (i) by testing sera on human or rat liver membrane; (ii) by testing sera on liver or kidney membrane; (iii) by serial titration of reactive sera; and (iv) by testing reactive sera from AIH-1 before and after successful treatment with prednisolone. The results were that in AIH-1 there were multiple reactive components which were not species-specific, since they were detected with both RHPM and HHPM, but were mostly tissue-specific for liver. There was no significant correlation between antinuclear antibodies (ANA) titer and the frequencies of sera reactivities against RHPM. Most of these reactive components were demonstrable at a lesser frequency in other liver diseases and in SLE. There was a striking decrease in reactivity by IB-ECL of AIH-1 sera with liver membrane after clinical remission, further suggesting that differences between AIH-1 and other inflammatory liver diseases and SLE are predominantly quantitative rather than qualitative. However, our study did point to candidate liver membrane antigens with molecular sizes of 136, 116, 81, and 49 kDa, additional to components previously described by others. The molecular identification of these prominent reactants with AIH-1 sera could prove informative for ascertaining pathogenesis.

Adult↗

Primary biliary cirrhosis: an orchestrated immune response against epithelial cells.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is an organ-specific autoimmune disease that predominantly affects women and is characterized by chronic progressive destruction of small intrahepatic bile ducts with portal inflammation and ultimately fibrosis. The serologic hallmark of PBC is the presence of antibodies to mitochondria, especially to the E2 component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. The mechanisms by which (and if) such antibodies produce liver tissue injury are unknown. However, the presence of these antibodies has allowed detailed immunological definition of the antigenic epitopes, the nature of reactive autoantibodies and the characterization of T-cell responses. Several mechanisms may now be proposed regarding the immune-mediated bile duct damage in PBC, including the possible role of T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity and intracellular interaction between the IgA class of antimitochondrial antibodies and mitochondrial autoantigens. There are major questions which remain unanswered, including, of course, etiology, but also the reasons for female predominance, the absence of PBC in children, the relative ineffectiveness of immunosuppressive drugs, and the specific role of mitochondrial antigens. The data so far provide suggestive evidence that PBC is a mucosal disease; this thesis provides a basis for discussion of etiology via the enterohepatic circulation of toxins and/or infection.

Acyltransferases↗

The peculiar autoimmunity of primary biliary cirrhosis.

Autoantibodies to mitochondria (AMA, anti-M2) are a serologic hallmark of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). These react with three structurally and functionally related multienzymic complexes, the 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase complexes, but chiefly with the E2 subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC-E2). Their very dose (95%) and specific association with PBC underpins the autoimmune concept of pathogenesis of that disease, notwithstanding several non-congruent features. Detailed studies, including structural analysis of epitopes, do not disclose how these autoantibodies originate. Their ubiquity in PBC has overshadowed the existence of a second set of relatively PBC-specific autoantibodies to nuclear antigens for which reactants have been cloned and characterized. These include centromeric proteins; proteins of the nuclear pore complex; nuclear dot proteins, which include Sp-100 and the promyelocytic leukemia antigen; and a recently identified autoantigen, SOX13. Certain of these reactants are DNA-binding proteins with transcriptional regulatory activity. Thus serum from individuals with the same clinical syndrome can have autoimmune reactivity to disparate mitochondrial and nuclear constituents in different cellular compartments. Antibody probing of phage displayed random peptide libraries, together with epitope scanning using overlapping sequential octameric peptides from the PDC-E2 sequence, showed that the discontinuous motifs MH, FV(E) and SYP contributed to a predicted conformational antibody epitope in the inner lipoyl domain of PDC-E2.

Acyltransferases↗

Young Chinese adults with new onset of diabetic ketoacidosis--clinical course, autoimmune status and progression of pancreatic beta-cell function.

AIMS: To examine the clinical course, autoimmune status and pancreatic beta cell function, over a 2-year period, in young Chinese subjects newly presenting with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). METHODS: A prospective study involving 562 out of 27,893 patients who were admitted to the medical ward with a principal diagnosis of diabetes mellitus during the recruitment period of 1 year. RESULTS: Of these 562 patients, 27 were aged less than 35 years and admitted with a diagnosis of DKA and 11 (six males and five females) of these were newly diagnosed. Antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) were present in five patients. Anti-ICA 512 was not detected in any of the patients. Basal and post-glucagon stimulated plasma C-peptide remained in the insulin-deficient range although showing improvement at 2 years. CONCLUSIONS: These findings confirm the relative rarity of autoimmune Type 1 diabetes in young Chinese. Even when the clinical presentation takes the extreme form of acute DKA, less than 50% have positive autoimmune markers.

Adult↗

Autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase in diabetic patients from a multi-ethnic Australian community: the Fremantle Diabetes Study.

AIMS: To investigate ethnic/racial differences in the prevalence of serum antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GADA) and ICA512/IA-2 in diabetic patients from a large, urban community. METHODS: A cross-sectional sample of 1,381 diabetic patients aged 11-98 years, representing 61% of those identified in a postcode-defined population base of 120,097 people were studied. Diabetes was classified on clinical grounds. Serum GADA and anti-ICA512/IA-2 were measured by radioimmunoprecipitation assay. RESULTS: Anglo-Celts formed 62% of the sample, southern Europeans 18%, other Europeans 8% and Asians 3%. GADA prevalence in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes mellitus was 46.0% and 4.2%, respectively, amongst Anglo-Celts and 22.2% and 1.7% in southern Europeans. The prevalence of anti-ICA512/IA-2 in Type 1 diabetes was 17.4% and, in a sample of 233 patients with Type 2 diabetes, 0.8%. GADA-positive Type 2 patients had a lower body mass index and greater glycosylated haemoglobin, and were more likely to be taking insulin, than GADA-negative Type 2 diabetic subjects (P < 0.05), consistent with the phentoype of latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA). In both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, there was a strong inverse association between GADA and serum triglycerides (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The relatively low GADA prevalence in Anglo-Celt patients with Type 1 diabetes is a feature of this community-based study and suggests that GADA levels do fall with time, given the older age of the sample and a relatively long period between diagnosis and sampling. Southern Europeans had an even lower GADA prevalence, regardless of diabetes type. Variations in GADA frequency in diabetic patients of differing European ethnicity has implications for clinical management and healthcare planning.

Adolescent↗

Autoimmunity and primary biliary cirrhosis.

The history of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) began in 1851, with autoimmunity introduced in 1958 and expanded from the 1960s on. In PBC, autoantibodies are present to mitochondria-located antigens (AMA) and to nuclear-located antigens (ANA). The AMA react with E2 subunits of three members of the 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase complex family, but most frequently with pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC); the inner lipoyl domain of PDC-E2 contains a major B- and T-cell epitope. The ANA react with three nuclear components, centromeric proteins, nuclear dot proteins and nuclear pore complex. Autoimmune diseases including PBC reflect a failure in mechanisms of self-tolerance which is developed in central lymphoid tissues in embryonic life by deletion of self-reactive lymphocytes, and maintained in peripheral tissues in post-natal life by regulatory processes. Primary biliary cirrhosis has not yet been identified with failure in any one particular tolerance mechanism. Genetic influences are revealed by familial occurrences and by associations with HLA alleles, and environmental influences by epidemiological data. A lead to pathogenesis is the accumulation uniquely in PBC of PDC-E2-like material at the plasma membrance of biliary epithelial cells (BECs). Although the origin of this accumulation of PDC-E2 at the surface of BECs is uncertain, it provides a credible 'tissue-specific' target for an autoimmune attack by T and B lymphocytes at the site of the actual pathology.

Autoantibodies↗

Enzyme inhibitory antibody to pyruvate dehydrogenase: diagnostic utility in primary biliary cirrhosis.

In primary biliary cirrhosis, autoantibodies are produced to the family of 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase complexes. These 'anti-mitochondrial' antibodies are traditionally detected by immunofluorescence but this method of detection is subjective and labour-intensive. We assessed an enzymatic mitochondrial antibody (EMA) assay based on antibody inhibition of enzymatic activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in wells of microtitre plates with a colorimetric read-out. We tested 48 Australian and 1947 Japanese patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, 306 normal subjects and 691 patients with various hepatic and non-hepatic diseases. The overall sensitivity of the EMA for the diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis, 82%, was slightly lower than that of immunofluorescence, 90% The advantages of the EMA test include high specificity, >99%, and semi-automated features facilitating objectivity, rapidity, simplicity and economy. The EMA test could be particularly applicable to population screening for early primary biliary cirrhosis.

Autoantibodies↗