PubMed:8296666 JSONTXT 6 Projects

A new approach to the molecular characterization of the c-ANCA antigen in Wegener's granulomatosis. Classic anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (c-ANCA) specific for constituents of neutrophil primary granules and monocyte lysosomes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Wegener's Granulomatosis (WG). The revised amino-terminal sequence of Proteinase 3 (PR-3) as ANCA antigen, suggested that PR-3 is identical to myeloblastin (MBN). As it has been proposed that autoantibodies recognize a conformational epitope on c-ANCA, prokaryotic expressed protein might not be recognized by the patients sera. Therefore we set up an in vitro translation in an eukaryotic cell-free system using an internal ATG (amino acid 15 of the mature protein).