Yoshinao Muro

We purified 15,000-fold from HeLa cell nuclear extract the centromere antigen that reacts specifically with the 17-bp sequence, designated previously as CENP-B box, in human centromeric alpha-satellite (alphoid) DNA by a two-step procedure including an oligonucleotide affinity column. The purified protein was identified as the centromere protein B (CENP-B) by its mobility on SDS-PAGE (80 kD), and reactivities to a monoclonal antibody raised to CENP-B (bacterial fusion protein) and to anticentrom

Considering that anti-DFS70 antibody positivity is rare in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, introducing the anti-DFS70 antibody examination as a screening test for ANA-positive persons could be used to rule out systemic autoimmune diseases, resulting in considerable cost-saving potential. In addition, this test defines a subpopulation of healthy people in whom long-term followup might reveal health-related implications of this finding, since anti-DFS70 antibodies have been shown to be

Our results suggest that anti-MDA-5 antibodies may be useful as a marker for monitoring disease activity in ILD complicated with ADM. Serial monitoring at short intervals is required to evaluate whether anti-MDA-5 antibody levels correlate with ADM disease activity.

Autoantibodies against dense fine speckles 70 (DFS70) are found in 10% of healthy individuals, but only in a tiny population of patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease. The antibody may thus be a marker of autoimmune rheumatic disease negativity. To investigate this possibility, we examined the presence of various disease-marker autoantibodies in anti-DFS70 antibody-positive patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease. Serum samples from 500 patients with various types of autoimmune rheumatic

This is the first study to examine the distribution of anti-MDA-5-positive dermatomyositis phenotypes in Japan. Regional differences in the incidences of these phenotypes would suggest that environmental factors contribute to the production of antibodies against MDA-5, which triggers innate antiviral responses.

This is the first report of anti-SAE antibodies from an Asian single center cohort. Although Japanese patients with anti-SAE antibodies have a clinical phenotype similar to that of Caucasian patients, their frequency was lower in the Japanese patients than in the previously reported Caucasian patients.

This is the first report of Japanese autoimmune patients with anti-PM/Scl antibodies. In Japanese patients, anti-PM/Scl antibodies are only very rarely found, and they are not always specific for dermatomyositis (DM) or SSc; they are also present in various autoimmune conditions with the highest prevalence being in UCTD. All anti-PM/Scl-positive DM cases are complicated with interstitial lung disease and/or cancer, while no life-threatening involvement was found in other anti-PM/Scl-positive cas

We tested anticentromere antibody positive sera from 37 patients by immunoblotting techniques. Three antigenic polypeptides were recognized when immunoblotted against protein extracts from HeLa cell nuclei or from chromosomal segments enriched with centromere region. These were a 17 kDa (CENP-A recognized by 34 sera), an 80 kDa (CENP-B recognized by 33 sera), and a 140 kDa polypeptide (CENP-C recognized by 26 sera). There was no disease specific pattern of antigenic polypeptides, although Raynau

Although MSAs have been regarded as mutually exclusive, anti-Mi-2 antibody-positive patients simultaneously have anti-TIF1-α antibodies. Anti-Mi-2 antibody-positive patients are associated with classical DM without cancer even with the simultaneous presence of anti-TIF1-α antibodies.