Morphological and biochemical analysis of anti-nuclear matrix protein antibodies in human sera

Autoimmune sera have been used in the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases as well as the analysis of nuclear substructures. In an attempt to study the biological characteristics of the nuclear matrix, we screened human sera using immunofluorescent staining and immunoblot. We detected antibodies against nuclear matrix (NM), a remnant nonchromatin protein compartment after the treatment of detergent, salt and nuclease, in 212 out of 284 tested sera (74.6%) by immunoblot. Peptides with molecular weights of 70 kDa, 50 kDa and 25 kDa were detected in the order of frequency. Clinical informations of 198 out of 212 cases were available and went as follows: 38 cases were autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis; 132 non-autoimmune and non-neoplastic diseases; 16 neoplastic diseases and 12 cases unclassified. The immunofluorescent staining intensity by anti-nuclear matrix protein (NMP) antibodies decreased variably, but fibrillogranular, speckled and nucleolar immunolocalization patterns were retained after in situ fractionation. Ku70 and La protein were detected by anti-NMP antibodies. Immunolocalization by anti-NMP antibodies indicates that the NMPs constitute a variety of characteristic nuclear substructures and may serve as autoantigens in diverse human diseases. In addition, the presence of Ku70 and La protein as NMPs suggests that the NM can be functionally active in association with DNA or RNA.