Title
IgG4 autoantibodies are inhibitory in the autoimmune disease bullous pemphigoid
Date Issued
01 September 2016
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Publisher(s)
Academic Press
Abstract
The IgG4 subclass of antibodies exhibits unique characteristics that suggest it may function in an immunoregulatory capacity. The inhibitory function of IgG4 has been well documented in allergic disease by the demonstration of IgG4 blocking antibodies, but similar functions have not been explored in autoimmune disease. Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is a subepidermal autoimmune blistering disease characterized by autoantibodies directed against BP180 and an inflammatory infiltrate including eosinophils and neutrophils. Animal models have revealed that the NC16A region within BP180 harbors the critical epitopes necessary for autoantibody mediated disease induction. BP180 NC16A-specific IgG belong to the IgG1, IgG3, and IgG4 subclasses. The purpose of this study was to determine effector functions of different IgG subclasses of NC16A-specific autoantibodies in BP. We find that IgG4 anti-NC16A autoantibodies inhibit the binding of IgG1 and IgG3 autoantibodies to the NC16A region. Moreover, IgG4 anti-NC16A blocks IgG1 and IgG3 induced complement fixation, neutrophil infiltration, and blister formation clinically and histologically in a dose-dependent manner following passive transfer to humanized BP180-NC16A mice. These findings highlight the inhibitory role of IgG4 in autoimmune disease and have important implications for the treatment of BP as well as other antibody mediated inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Start page
111
End page
119
Volume
73
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Inmunología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-84991277296
PubMed ID
Source
Journal of Autoimmunity
ISSN of the container
08968411
Sponsor(s)
The authors acknowledge Dr. Daniel Zedek for his assistance with histology. This study was supported by NIH grants AI07924 and AI40768 (ZL), AR06372 (NL), and AR32599 (LAD) and the Dermatology Foundation (DAC).
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus