Electron Transfer Flavoprotein Subunit Beta Is a Candidate Endothelial Cell Autoantigen in Behçet's Disease

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 27;10(4):e0124760. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124760. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disease with multisystem involvement, and it is listed as a rare disease in the United States but is common in the Middle East, China, and Japan. The aim of this study was to identify novel autoantigens in Chinese patients with BD. First, the candidate autoantigens were screened by Western blotting, and the sequences of putative antigens were identified by LC-MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. Next, the screened protein was cloned, expressed and purified. Then, an optimized ELISA was developed, and the serological criteria were evaluated using a large number of confirmed patients. One antigen with a molecular weight of approximately 28 kDa was identified as electron transfer flavoprotein subunit beta (ETFB). Positive reactivity was detected in recombinant human ETFB sera from 38 of 92 BD patients (41 %) and 1 of 90 healthy controls (1 %).

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Autoantigens / genetics
  • Autoantigens / immunology*
  • Autoantigens / metabolism
  • Behcet Syndrome / diagnosis
  • Behcet Syndrome / genetics
  • Behcet Syndrome / immunology*
  • Behcet Syndrome / metabolism
  • Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins / chemistry
  • Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins / genetics
  • Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins / immunology*
  • Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins / metabolism
  • Endothelial Cells / immunology*
  • Endothelial Cells / metabolism
  • Female
  • Gene Expression
  • Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Peptide Fragments / chemistry
  • Peptide Fragments / immunology
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Autoantigens
  • ETFB protein, human
  • Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins
  • Peptide Fragments

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central universities, the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31371203). Co-author Guangyu Chen is employed by ImmunoHunt Corporation. ImmunoHunt Corporation provided support in the form of salary for author GC, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.