12 research outputs found
Identification of MPO-positive capillaries of the pleura by immunohistochemistry in MPO-ANCA associated vasculitis
Monitoring of serum hepatitis C virus RNA level during steroid therapy for hepatitis C virus-positive antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-related glomerulonephritis: report of two cases
Value of ANCA measurements during remission to predict a relapse of ANCA-associated vasculitis--a meta-analysis
Occurrence of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies and associated vasculitis in patients with hyperthyroidism treated with antithyroid drugs: A long-term followup study
Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) from patients with systemic vasculitis recognize restricted epitopes of proteinase 3 involving the catalytic site
ANCA with specificity for proteinase 3 (PR3), a neutrophil primary granule enzyme, are of diagnostic value in Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) and certain other forms of systemic vasculitis. There is evidence to suggest that they play a pathogenic role in disease, and that the interaction of ANCA with PR3 is likely to be important. We showed, using a resonant mirror biosensor, that C-ANCA from different patients recognized the same or closely related epitopes on PR3. Studies using linear peptides in the SPOT system confirmed the highly restricted nature of this interaction and identified five linear epitopes. Fluid-phase inhibition studies, using a different set of peptides, validated the sequences involved. Using a computer-generated model of the structure of PR3, four of five epitopes were shown to be intimately linked with the catalytic site. The restricted number of epitopes, and their location at the catalytic site, has important implications for the role of C-ANCA in the pathogenesis of vasculitis