Project description:Overall, this work describes the largest cohort of patients with RAG mutations and an associated phenotype consisting of combined immunodeficiency and granulomatous lesions and/or autoimmunity (CID-G/AI). By using multiple methods (microarray, ELISA and multiplex bead technology), we have consistently identified a distinctive signature of anti-cytokine antibodies in patients with RAG-dependent immunodeficiencies, especially in those with CID-G/AI and a history of severe viral infections. These autoantibodies were not detected in a large panel of patients with other forms of primary immunodeficiency, and may therefore represent a novel biomarker panel of this condition.
Project description:We measued IgG autoantibodies associated with Connective Tissue Diseases (CTDs) and Anti-Cytokine Antibodies (ACA) in idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease (iMCD) patients and healthy controls who received the BNT162b2 vaccine.
Project description:We measued IgG autoantibodies associated with Connective Tissue Diseases (CTDs) and Anti-Cytokine Antibodies (ACA) in idiopathic Multicentric Castleman Disease (iMCD) patients and healthy controls who received the BNT162b2 vaccine.
Project description:Screening of 22 novel proteins derived from Campylobacter jejuni NCTC 11168 identified prior via screening of cDNA libraries. The full-length proteins were attached using a specific HaloTag to their corresponding ligand surface, HaloLink. Screening was performed using three different polyclonal antibodies to Campylobacter jejuni and detection was achieved by goat polyclonal antibody to rabbit IgG conjugated with Chromeo-546. In order to assess their potential immungenic nature and rank the proteins investigated, comparative analysis using already described antigens from C. jejuni were used in the assay.
Project description:Male Non-Obese Diabetic (NOD) mice develops autoimmune dacryoadenitis beginning 6-8 weeks of age including lymphocytic infiltration of the lacrimal glands, reduced tear production, increased cysteine tear proteases and restructuring of extracellular membrane structural proteins. Autoantigens with high antibody reactivity in serum of disease model mice may have diagnostic potential for Sjögren's Disease. Serum was collected from mice at early (8 weeks,), intermediate (24 weeks) and advanced (33 weeks) stage of autoimmune dacryoadenitis. Serum was also collected from healthy control BALB/c mice at 8 and 28 weeks of age. Approximately 0.8 mL of blood was collected by cardiac puncture into serum separator tubes. Following cold centrifugation, serum was collected. 10 uL of serum per sample was used to determine reactivity against 94 autoantigens using proteinarray. Additionally, effect of age on the level of reactivity was also studied to determine if aging was a confounding the observed up or downregulation of serum autoantibodies.
Project description:Introduction: Autoreactivity to histones is a pervasive feature of several human autoimmune disorders including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Specific post-translational modifications (PTMs) of histones within neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) may potentially drive the process by which tolerance to these chromatin-associated proteins is broken. We hypothesized that NETs and their unique histone PTMs might be capable of inducing autoantibodies that target histones. Methods: We developed a novel and efficient method for the in vitro production, visualization, and broad profiling of histone-PTMs of human and murine NETs. We also immunized Balb/c mice with murine NETs and profiled their sera on autoantigen and histone peptide microarrays for evidence of autoantibody production to their immunogen. Results: We confirmed specificity toward acetyl-modified histone H2B as well as to other histone PTMs in sera from patients with SLE known to have autoreactivity against histones. We observed enrichment for distinctive histone marks of transcriptionally silent DNA during NETosis triggered by diverse stimuli. However, NETs derived from human and murine sources did not harbor many of the PTMs toward which autoreactivity was observed in patients with SLE or in MRL/lpr mice. Further, while murine NETs were weak autoantigens in vivo, there was only partial overlap in the IgG and IgM autoantibody profiles induced by vaccination of mice with NETs and those seen in patients with SLE. Conclusions: Isolated in vivo exposure to NETs is insufficient to break tolerance and may involve additional factors that have yet to be identified.
Project description:Rheumatoid arthritis is a prototypical autoimmune arthritis affecting nearly 1% of the world population and is a significant cause of worldwide disability. Though prior studies have demonstrated the appearance of RA-related autoantibodies years before the onset of clinical RA, the pattern of immunologic events preceding the development of RA remains unclear. To characterize the evolution of the autoantibody response in the preclinical phase of RA, we used a novel multiplex autoantigen array to evaluate development of the anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) and to determine if epitope spread correlates with rise in serum cytokines and imminent onset of clinical RA. To do so, we utilized a cohort of 81 patients with clinical RA for whom stored serum was available from 1-12 years prior to disease onset. We evaluated the accumulation of ACPA subtypes over time and correlated this accumulation with elevations in serum cytokines. We then used logistic regression to identify a profile of biomarkers which predicts the imminent onset of clinical RA (defined as within 2 years of testing). We observed a time-dependent expansion of ACPA specificity with the number of ACPA subtypes. At the earliest timepoints, we found autoantibodies targeting several innate immune ligands including citrullinated histones, fibrinogen, and biglycan, thus providing insights into the earliest autoantigen targets and potential mechanisms underlying the onset and development of autoimmunity in RA. Additionally, expansion of the ACPA response strongly predicted elevations in many inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α, IL-6, IL-12p70, and IFN-γ. Thus, we observe that the preclinical phase of RA is characterized by an accumulation of multiple autoantibody specificities reflecting the process of epitope spread. Epitope expansion is closely correlated with the appearance of preclinical inflammation, and we identify a biomarker profile including autoantibodies and cytokines which predicts the imminent onset of clinical arthritis.
Project description:Seeking to identify HLA class I peptides that originate from vaccinia virus proteins to understand the mechanism of immune protection. Note that vaccinia-infected B cells will still continue to present (primarily) a wide variety of peptides originating from endogenous proteins; this data set contains evidence for more than 5000 such peptides. The objective and challenge is to detect and identify the peptides that originate from the pathogen (vaccinia virus) in the presence (background) of this large number of endogensous 'self' peptides. Keywords: Peptide search results from multiple injections of multiple strong cation exchange fractions combined into one set of results.
Project description:A non-invasive diagnostic test does not exist for acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD). We therefore sought to identify biomarkers for aGVHD using antibody microarrays (Schleicher and Schuell Serum Biomarker Chips, Whatman) that simultaneously assayed 120 plasma proteins. We measured these proteins in a set of 42 patient plasma samples following an allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT): 21 patients with a diagnosis of aGVHD grade II-IV (+GVHD) and 21 patients without aGVHD (–GVHD) at similar times after transplant. We excluded data from 2 hybridizations that had very bright dots and appeared as outliers in preliminary principal components analysis, so that we finally compared 20 +GVHD to 20 -GVHD samples. Keywords: disease state analysis, antibody microarray