Penetrating anti-DNA monoclonal antibodies induce activation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Different studies have shown that some autoantibodies are able to penetrate into living cells and that this phenomenon has functional consequences, including apoptosis. We have explored the effect of anti-DNA antibodies (Ab) on the in vitro activation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNC) and found that a human polyclonal anti-DNA, IgG, which efficiently penetrated living cells, was able to induce the expression of different cell activation antigens in vitro such as CD69, CD71 or CD98 by PBMNC from normal individuals. However, the cell activation phenotype induced by anti-DNA Ab was considered anomalous since the expression of some activation antigens was not up-regulated, and others showed aberrant behaviour (such as down-regulation of ICAM-1 expression). Similar results were obtained using different murine anti-DNA monoclonal antibodies (mAb). In addition, mAb that showed an efficient ability to penetrate living cells tended to have a greater effect on PBMNC activation. Anti-DNA Ab were also able to induce a noticeable expression of CD95/Fas. These data indicate that penetrating anti-DNA Ab are able to induce an anomalous activation state in vitro in a significant fraction of PBMNC. We believe this effect may occur in vivo and could have an important function in the pathogenesis of the immune dysregulation seen in SLE.

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