Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein I (of Hnrnp I) And The Cloning Of The Sm Proteins And Their Epitopes In The Clinical Significance Of Rheumatic Diseases

BackgroudSmall nuclear ribonucleoprotein(snRNP) and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) are the most important nucleic acid binding proteins in RNA processing which also act as important targets of the autoimmune response in rheumatic diseases. The first evidence of human autoantibodies directed to the hnRNP I has been proved in 1996 and it was suggested anti-hnRNP I autoantibodies were associated with the clinical features of systemic sclerosis(SSc). But few reports were available since that. It has been proved previously that anti-Smith(anti-Sm) autoantibody response is high specific for SLE and the reactivity to Sm antigen predominantly targeted to the SmB/B' and D. But their frequency in SLE is rather low and varies between 5 and 30% depending on the method of serologic tests used and origin of the antigen. Therefore, SmB/B' and SmD are crucial subjects to investigate regarding its molecular structure and immunodorninant epitopes. ObjectiveTo assess the presence of autoantibodies directed against the epitopes of hnRNPI and Sm as well as recombinant proteins of them in different CTDs and analyze the clinical significance of them.MethodsPolypeptides of hnRNPI ,SmB/B' and SmD were designed with the...