Electron Transfer Flavoprotein Subunit Beta Is a Candidate Endothelial Cell Autoantigen in Behçet's Disease

Peng Chen; Weikang Yang; Yaping Tian; Shutao Sun; Guangyu Chen; ChunYan Zhang; Fuxin Ma; Yiping Xun; Lili Shi; Chunhe Yang; Lanqing Zhao; Yabin Zhou; Hongwu Du

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0124760

Electron Transfer Flavoprotein Subunit Beta Is a Candidate Endothelial Cell Autoantigen in Behçet's Disease

PLoS One. 2015 Apr 27;10(4):e0124760. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124760. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Peng Chen¹, Weikang Yang¹, Yaping Tian², Shutao Sun³, Guangyu Chen⁴, ChunYan Zhang², Fuxin Ma¹, Yiping Xun¹, Lili Shi¹, Chunhe Yang¹, Lanqing Zhao¹, Yabin Zhou¹, Hongwu Du¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China.
² Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China.
³ Core Facility, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁴ ImmunoHunt Corporation, 139 Fengtai Rd, Beijing, 100071, China.

Abstract

Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic inflammatory disease with multisystem involvement, and it is listed as a rare disease in the United States but is common in the Middle East, China, and Japan. The aim of this study was to identify novel autoantigens in Chinese patients with BD. First, the candidate autoantigens were screened by Western blotting, and the sequences of putative antigens were identified by LC-MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. Next, the screened protein was cloned, expressed and purified. Then, an optimized ELISA was developed, and the serological criteria were evaluated using a large number of confirmed patients. One antigen with a molecular weight of approximately 28 kDa was identified as electron transfer flavoprotein subunit beta (ETFB). Positive reactivity was detected in recombinant human ETFB sera from 38 of 92 BD patients (41 %) and 1 of 90 healthy controls (1 %).

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Amino Acid Sequence
Autoantigens / genetics
Autoantigens / immunology*
Autoantigens / metabolism
Behcet Syndrome / diagnosis
Behcet Syndrome / genetics
Behcet Syndrome / immunology*
Behcet Syndrome / metabolism
Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins / chemistry
Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins / genetics
Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins / immunology*
Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins / metabolism
Endothelial Cells / immunology*
Endothelial Cells / metabolism
Female
Gene Expression
Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Male
Middle Aged
Peptide Fragments / chemistry
Peptide Fragments / immunology
Young Adult

Substances

Autoantigens
ETFB protein, human
Electron-Transferring Flavoproteins
Peptide Fragments

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central universities, the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31371203). Co-author Guangyu Chen is employed by ImmunoHunt Corporation. ImmunoHunt Corporation provided support in the form of salary for author GC, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.