Age-related changes in anti-elastin antibodies in serum from normal and atherosclerotic subjects

Increased elastin turnover in diabetic patients with arterial hypertension

“…The role of autoantibodies and immune complexes in this process attracts an increasing attention of researchers. The antigenic property of elastin and the circulating AEAbs were first reported by Stein et al [9] and confirmed by several subsequent studies [7,[10][11][12][13]. At present, two main antigen classes are recognized in the elastin molecule: one is specific, the other one -non-specific and associated with the cross reactivity.…”

“…Glycation of hemoglobin leads to the formation of HbA 1c , which is described as a product of Amadori, but it is not a product of the late non-enzymatic glycosylation [26]. HbA 1c is an indicator for glycemia over the last [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] weeks while the late non-enzymatic glycosylation marks a process longer in time [27].…”

“…The antigen soluble α-elastin was prepared from the aorta of healthy individuals (who died in an accident) in a way already described [7]. Elastin purity was confirmed by the amino acid analysis of Professor R. Mecham (Washington University, St Louis, MO).…”

“…After the plates had been washed repeatedly in order to remove unbound CIF, human sera (100 µl) were added to the plates and incubated for 60 min at 37°C. At the end of the incubation period, the samples were transferred from the CIF plates to the wells, sensitized with aortic α-elastin (1 µg of elastin in 100 µl of 0.05 M carbonate buffer, pH 9.6) in a previously described manner [7]. These samples were then incubated for 1 h at 37°C and washed several times.…”

Age-Related Changes of Anti-Elastin Antibodies in Senescence-Accelerated Mice

“…Autoantibodies (IgG) to ␣ -elastin (elastin breakdown product; AEAb) and tropoelastin (elastin precursor; ATEAb) are found in the sera of healthy human subjects [5,6] . Relatively high levels AEAb were established in the serum of children, which reach even higher values in the serum of 18-20 years old subjects.…”