We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Autoantibodies to human tryptophan hydroxylase and aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase.
- Authors
Chiara Dal Pra; Shu Chen; Corrado Betterle; Renato Zanchetta; Vivienne McGrath; Jadwiga Furmaniak; Bernard Rees Smith
- Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of autoantibodies (Abs) to tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) and aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC) in patients with different autoimmune diseases and to analyse their respective epitopes. DESIGN: TPH and AADC Abs were measured in an immunoprecipitation assay using 35S-labelled full-length and fragments of TPH and AADC. METHODS: Patients with different autoimmune adrenal diseases (n=84), non-adrenal autoimmune diseases (n=37), idiopathic vitiligo (n=8) and 56 healthy blood donors were studied. RESULTS: Fourteen of twenty-three (61%) of patients with autoimmune polyglandular syndrome (APS) type I and 1/34 (3%) of patients with isolated Addison's disease (AD) were positive for TPH Abs. None of the patients with APS type II (n=27), coeliac disease (n=10), autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) (n=11), type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) (n=16) or idiopathic vitiligo (n=8) was positive for TPH Abs. AADC Abs were detected in 12/23 (52%) patients with APS type I, in 1/29 (3%) patients with APS type II and 1/34 (3%) patients with isolated AD. None of the patients with coeliac disease, type 1 DM, AITD or idiopathic vitiligo was positive for AADC Abs. TPH Abs were found to interact with the C-terminal amino acids (aa) 308423, central aa 164205 and N-terminal aa 1105 of the TPH molecule. AADC Ab binding epitopes were within the C-terminal aa 382483, the central aa 243381 and the N-terminal aa 1167. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that TPH Abs and AADC Abs react with several different epitopes and that different epitopes are recognized by different sera. The prevalence of TPH Abs and AADC Abs in patients with APS type I in our study is in agreement with previous reports. TPH Abs and AADC Abs were found very rarely in patients with other forms of autoimmune adrenal disease and were not detected in patients with non-adrenal autoimmune diseases.
- Subjects
ADRENAL diseases; AUTOIMMUNE diseases; AUTOANTIBODIES; AROMATIC amino acid decarboxylases; PRECIPITIN reaction
- Publication
European Journal of Endocrinology, 2004, Vol 150, Issue 3, p0313
- ISSN
0804-4643
- Publication type
Article