| Abstract: | Human nephritogenic antigen induces anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody glomerulonephritis in rats. This antigen was purified from collagenase-solubilized renal basement membrane by means of gel filtration and affinity chromatography using a rabbit antibody. Western blots of the purified nephritogenic antigen using epitope-defined monoclonal antibodies showed that it contains the NC1 domains of the α1 to α6 chains of type IV collagen. Nephritogenicity was thought to be a feature of the NC1 domains of the α3 to α5 chains, because the α6 chain is not located in the glomerular basement membrane, and because an NC1 fraction consisting of the NC1 domains of the α1 and α2 chains was poorly nephritogenic. Autoantibodies in the sera of patients with Goodpasture's syndrome were detected by ELISA using the purified nephritogenic antigen. These results indicate that the nephritogenic antigen contains the Goodpasture antigen, defined as the antigen reactive with sera from patients with Goodpasture's syndrome. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
