This study was undertaken to investigate whether levels of anti-alpha-1,6-glucan antibodies in human sera correlate with rheumatoid arthritis(RA)and systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE).Serum samples were collected from patients with SLE(n=30),RA(n=30)and healthy adult volunteers.IgG,IgA and IgM levels against alpha-1,6-glucan were measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assays.Anti-alpha-1,6-glucan IgG prevalence was raised in patients with active SLE(73.3%)and RA(60%)compared with healthy controls(13.3%).Strong correlation between anti-alpha-1,6-glucan-IgG levels and anti-perinuclear factor(r=0.642;p<0.05)in RA patients or anti-nuclear antibodies(r=0.675;p<0.05)in SLE patients was observed.No significant differences in anti-alpha-1,6-glucan-IgA or-IgM levels were noted between different groups.We conclude that anti-alpha-1,6-glucan-IgG levels were significantly elevated in patients with SLE or RA and positively correlated with disease activity.
The complement C5 anaphylatoxin receptor is a member of the seven transmembrane-spanning G protein-coupled receptor superfamily that signals through Gcxi and Gtz16. C5aR is mostly expressed on neutrophils, macrophages and endothelial cells. C5a and C5aR interaction plays an important role in numerous biological effects such as in vivo cytokine storm which results in inflammatory damage. Considering the limitation of collection of human peripheral blood neutrophils and their short half life, the stably transfected cell line for studying the biological effects of C5aR is needed. In this study, we transfected C5aR gene into Molt-4 cell line and examined the function of ectopic C5aR. Our results showed stable expression of the C5aR in Molt-4 cell line and their interaction with human C5a induced ERKI/2 phosphorylation, Ca＋＋ influx. This stable transfected cell line may provide a useful tool for studying signal pathways related to C5a and C5aR interplay and antibody development specific for C5aR. Cellular ＆ Molecular Immunology.
This study was undertaken to investigate whether levels of anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae mannan antibodies （ASCMA） in human sera, a marker for several autoimmune diseases, correlate with rheumatoid arthritis （RA）. ASCMA-IgA, -IgG and -IgM levels were measured with enzyme linked immunosorbent assays （ELISA） in patients with RA （n = 30） and 152 healthy adult controls. ASCMA-IgA prevalence was significantly higher in RA patients （40%） than in healthy subjects （5.3%）. A strong correlation between levels of ASCMA-IgA and CRP （r = 0.695; p 〈 0.01） and ESR （r = 0.708; p 〈 0.01） in RA patients was observed. No significant differences in ASCMA-IgG or IgM levels were noted between RA patients and healthy control subjects in the present study. This result differs from previous reports. It remains to be evaluated whether elevated ASCMA-levels are common to all rheumatic disorders.
