CHARACTERIZATION OF IMMUNE RESPONSES TO RETINAL SPECIFIC ANTIGENS

S抗原（S-Ag）和感光细胞间的特征之一 类维生素A结合蛋白（IRBP）是视网膜特异性抗原， 能够在眼睛中诱导强烈的自身免疫性炎症， 当在佐剂存在下注射时，这 一种称为实验性自身免疫性葡萄膜炎（EAU）的疾病， 不 对T细胞和适当抗原呈递细胞的抗原加工的影响 （APC）。抗原加工，发生在细胞的内吞囊泡内， APC导致产生小的多肽亚基。这些 然后必须保护小多肽免于进一步降解， 运输到细胞表面，在那里与T细胞相互作用 地方 在1994财政年度，我们进一步表征了细胞内蛋白质， D 1993财政年度。 我们证实了这种蛋白质确实属于热休克 通过对70 kD峰的部分氨基酸测序，对蛋白质家族进行了分析。 我们 还鉴定了40 kD处的峰为肌动蛋白。 测试不同 肽部分已经显示出免疫原性肽与HSP 70的结合 是一个选择性的过程。 某些肽能很好地与hsp 70结合，尽管其他肽也能与hsp 70结合。 肽对HSP 70没有亲和力。 该过程也是选择性的， 它需要ATP来释放结合的肽。 我们还发现 白塞病患者血清中hsp抗体水平升高 疾病 血清水平的增加对应于眼部 在没有任何全身活性证据的情况下， 疾病

One of the characteristics of S-antigen (S-Ag) and interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP), which are retinal-specific antigens, is th ability to induce an intense autoimmune inflammation in the eyes of experimental animals when injected in the presence of an adjuvant. This disease, called experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU), is critically depend t on T cells and antigen processing by appropriate antigen-presenting cells (APCs). Antigen processing, which occurs within the endocytic vesicles of the APCs, results in the production of small polypeptide subunits. These small polypeptides must then be protected from further degradation and transported to the cell surface where the interaction with the T cell takes place. In FY 1994 we further characterized the intracellular protein first identif d in FY 1993. We confirmed that the protein does belong to the heat shock family of proteins by partial amino acid sequencing of the 70kD peak. We also identified the peak at 40kD as being actin. Testing with different peptide moieties has shown that binding of immunogenic peptides by hsp70 is a selective process. Certain peptides bind well to hsp70, although othe peptides have no affinity for hsp70. The process is also selective in that it requires ATP in order to release the bound peptide. We have also found increased levels of hsp antibody in the serum of patients with Behcet's disease. The increase serum levels corresponded to periods of ocular inflammatory activity in the absence of any evidence of active systemic disease.