Autoimmune diseases are a family of related illnesses which possess a common characteristic feature; the immune system, originally intended to provide protection from the invasion of foreign pathogens, turns upon itself and attacks self tissues and organs. The purpose of Phase I is to isolate and characterize the target kidney cell autoantigen found to bind a therapeutic monoclonal antibody 3E10, which has been shown to be effective in turning off production of destructive antoantibodies in systemic lupus nephritis. Characterization of the antigenic moiety bound by 3E10 and immunoscreening of expression cDNA libraries will be performed. In Phase 11, we will carry out detailed structure-function studies and use the autoantigen for developing immunotherapy peptide and monoclonal studies.Awardee's statement of the potential commercial applications of the research: Monoclonal based vaccines for immunoinflammatory disease including SLE, arthritis, and MS may be useful in the prevention and treatment of these prevalent disease conditions. The identification of the key autoantigens involved in these autoimmune diseases will allow for specific targeting and production of new therapeutic treatments.National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
