Auroimmunity, 1992, Vol. 12, pp. 241-243 Reprints available directly from the publisher Photocopying permitted by license only
0 1992 Harwood Academic Publishers GmbH Printed in the United Kingdom
Correspondence
Autoimmunity Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by University of Auckland on 11/24/14 For personal use only.
EXPRESSION OF THE 90 kD HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN IN BEHCET’S SYNDROME Sir, Cells infected with herpes simplex virus type I1 (HSVII) oierexpress the 90 kD heat shock protein (hsp90) and herpes simplex virus type I (HSVI) infected cells overexpress a 40 kD protein which is antigenically related to hsp90. These findings have been demonstrated in both HSV infected cells in laboratory cultures’ and in HSV infected cells isolated from clinical specimens2. HSVI has been implicated in Behqet’s syndrome; the HSVI genome is expressed in the circulating leucocytes’ of a proportion of patients with this disease. Hsp90 is overexpressed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 15-20% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)4. Since multisystem disease and vasculopathy occur in both BehGet’s syndrome and SLE, we thought it would be of interest to study the expression of hsp90 and the 40 kD protein in PBMC of patients with Behqet’s syndrome. Using a method similar to that previously described4, we have quantitated hsp90 and the immunologically related but functionally distinct 40 kD protein5 with the monoclonal antibody (AC88), which was a kind gift from David Toft. Since AC88 detects both proteins, it was not possible to use an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELSA), and a more complex assay using Western blotting and scanning densitometry was employed. Calculation of hsp90 and 40 kD protein values included correction for differences in protein loading on gels, as well as for differences in batches of the positive control (Jurkat cell line) which was used as the standard throughout. Values were calculated relative to the standard. Thus values are expressed in arbitrary units. Ten patients with Behqet’s syndrome were studied (mean age 43, seven female and three male). There is some evidence that HSVI may play a part in the pathogenesis of recurrent oral ulceration (ROU)3, and so six patients with this condition were studied (mean age 36, all female). In addition we studied 40 patients with SLE (mean age 40, 38 female and two male), and 35 normal controls (mean age 33, 30 female and five male). Four of the Behqet’s patients had ocular disease, 24 I
nine had joint involvement, three had skin lesions and two had a history of deep venous thrombosis. All patients had recurrent oral and genital ulceration. Anti-HSVI antibody titres ranged from 15 to 29% (as % ‘”I binding in a radiommunoassay‘), compared with 1 to 22.5% in the ROU patients. Thirteen of the SLE patients had clinically inactive disease, 21 had mild, five had moderate and one by the had severe disease as assessed UCH/Middlesex scoring system’. Figure 1 shows hsp90 and 40 kD protein values for subjects in the four groups studied, with means and standard deviation (SD). The mean hsp90 of the SLE group (0.14, SD 0.1) was significantly higher than that of the control group (0.07, SD 0.09), ( P
0 1992 Harwood Academic Publishers GmbH Printed in the United Kingdom
Correspondence
Autoimmunity Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by University of Auckland on 11/24/14 For personal use only.
EXPRESSION OF THE 90 kD HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN IN BEHCET’S SYNDROME Sir, Cells infected with herpes simplex virus type I1 (HSVII) oierexpress the 90 kD heat shock protein (hsp90) and herpes simplex virus type I (HSVI) infected cells overexpress a 40 kD protein which is antigenically related to hsp90. These findings have been demonstrated in both HSV infected cells in laboratory cultures’ and in HSV infected cells isolated from clinical specimens2. HSVI has been implicated in Behqet’s syndrome; the HSVI genome is expressed in the circulating leucocytes’ of a proportion of patients with this disease. Hsp90 is overexpressed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of 15-20% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)4. Since multisystem disease and vasculopathy occur in both BehGet’s syndrome and SLE, we thought it would be of interest to study the expression of hsp90 and the 40 kD protein in PBMC of patients with Behqet’s syndrome. Using a method similar to that previously described4, we have quantitated hsp90 and the immunologically related but functionally distinct 40 kD protein5 with the monoclonal antibody (AC88), which was a kind gift from David Toft. Since AC88 detects both proteins, it was not possible to use an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELSA), and a more complex assay using Western blotting and scanning densitometry was employed. Calculation of hsp90 and 40 kD protein values included correction for differences in protein loading on gels, as well as for differences in batches of the positive control (Jurkat cell line) which was used as the standard throughout. Values were calculated relative to the standard. Thus values are expressed in arbitrary units. Ten patients with Behqet’s syndrome were studied (mean age 43, seven female and three male). There is some evidence that HSVI may play a part in the pathogenesis of recurrent oral ulceration (ROU)3, and so six patients with this condition were studied (mean age 36, all female). In addition we studied 40 patients with SLE (mean age 40, 38 female and two male), and 35 normal controls (mean age 33, 30 female and five male). Four of the Behqet’s patients had ocular disease, 24 I
nine had joint involvement, three had skin lesions and two had a history of deep venous thrombosis. All patients had recurrent oral and genital ulceration. Anti-HSVI antibody titres ranged from 15 to 29% (as % ‘”I binding in a radiommunoassay‘), compared with 1 to 22.5% in the ROU patients. Thirteen of the SLE patients had clinically inactive disease, 21 had mild, five had moderate and one by the had severe disease as assessed UCH/Middlesex scoring system’. Figure 1 shows hsp90 and 40 kD protein values for subjects in the four groups studied, with means and standard deviation (SD). The mean hsp90 of the SLE group (0.14, SD 0.1) was significantly higher than that of the control group (0.07, SD 0.09), ( P
