Immunogenicity of Human Recombinant Acetylcholine Receptor α Subunit: Cytoplasmic Epitopes Dominate the Antibody Response in four Mouse Strains

Abstract

In mysathenia gravis (MG) autoantibodies directed against acetylcholine receptors (AChR), at the neuromuscular junction lead to muscle weakness. These antibodies are directed against extracellular determinants, predominantly on the AChR a subunits. Similar antibodies can be induced in animals by immunisation with purified AChR, but immunisation of mice with recombinant human a subunit or its extracellular domain has produced conflicting results. To study further the immunogenicity of the human a subunit we immunised four inbred stains (C57B1/6, SJL, BALB/c, SWR) with almost full-length recombinant a subunit, r37-429, and looked at B cell epitopes by mapping with smaller recombinant fragments and synthetic peptides. The majority of anti-r37-429 antibodies bound to sequences within a region thought to be cytoplasmic, α325-368, and reacted with human AChR. In two C57B1/6 sera, only, most antibodies were directed against an extracellular region, α138-167, but the r3 7-429 used for immunisation of these two mice appeared to have lost the integrity of its cytoplasmic domain during preparation. Our results suggest that the antigenicity of the cytoplasmic region of the recombinant a subunit dominates the immune response in each of the four strains, and may even suppress the formation of antibodies to the extracellular domain. Moreover, although C57B1/6 and SJL mice were able to produce antibodies to al38-167, these antobodies did not react with intact AChR, and none of the mice became weak.

Key Words:

• acetylcholine receptor
• mysathenia gravis
• immunogenicity of recombinant antigen
• cytoplasmic domain