Neurological Disease‐Associated Autoantibodies against an Unknown Protein Encoded by a RES4‐22 Homologous Gene
Amin M., Uhlig HH., Kamprad M., Karbe J., Osman AA., Grahmann F., Hummelsheim H., Mothes T.
Screening a human small intestinal library with human serum yielded a clone which encoded a protein res4‐22 the gene of which was highly homologous to a recently described gene located in the Huntington's disease locus. Autoantibodies against res4‐22 (anti‐res4‐22), mainly of the immunoglobulin (Ig)A type, were detected in patients with neurological disorders at a higher frequency (18.4%) than in healthy blood donors (8.0%). In neurological patients with cerebral ischaemia anti‐res4‐22 was found significantly more often (47.4%) than in the total group of neurological patients. Anti‐res4‐22 positive sera showed significantly more frequently myelin staining in cerebellum and nerve sections than anti‐res4‐22 negative sera. Our findings demonstrate a new species of human autoantibodies against a newly described protein the function of which is still unknown.