Antigen Preparation for Immunological Studies in Systemic Autoimmune Diseases

Abstract

Systemic autoimmune diseases are characterized by the presence in patient sera of high titers of autoantibodies directed against self-antigens. The characterization of specific autoantigen-autoantibody system is very important for research as well as for diagnostic tools and several techniques can be employed in such immunological studies. In this review an overview of the different biochemical methods of antigen preparation and the specific methodological applications is given, also describing potential critical aspects and benefits of the different protocols.

Anti-SAE antibodies in autoimmune myositis: Identification by unlabelled protein immunoprecipitation in an Italian patient cohort

“…Using our protocol we were unable to identify some antibody reactivities, probably due to the conditions of antigen's extraction from human cultured cells, or to the coimmunoprecipitation of components complexed to the primary antigen. The identification of different antibody specificities in the sera by unlabelled protein IP require proper conditions of cell lysis and protein extraction based on antigen properties (Zampieri et al, 2007). On the other hand our method was adequate for the identification of anti-SAE antibodies, disclosing unlabelled protein IP as a laboratory test contributing to the characterization of the antibody profile in autoimmune myositis.…”