Autoantibody specific for transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) in patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis

Autoantibody reactive with tRNA was identified by immunoprecipitation of Hela cell extract. Four out of 56 sera from patients with autoimmune chronic active hepatitis (CAH), and four out of 35 sera from patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) contained antibody directed against gel-purified tRNA in Hela cell extract, but no sera obtained from CAH type B, CAH non-A, non-B, or healthy volunteers did. Further studies on these eight anti-tRNA sera disclosed that 6 of the 8 sera that immunoprecipitated tRNA from Hela cell extract, reacted with purified tRNA, but reacted with neither 5sRNA nor ribosomal RNA species. After proteinase and deoxyribonuclease digestion of Hela cell extract, the epitope for these 6 sera was conserved, and the antigen was sensitive to ribonuclease (anti-tRNA serum). Purified Hela cell DNA digested with Eco RI or Hind III (denatured or non-denatured) could not be immunoprecipitated by these sera. In a patient with autoimmune CAH, the anti-tRNA antibody was weakly positive at week 2 and disappeared 2 months after steroid therapy started, "in parallel" with disappearance of anti-nuclear antibody. In the other 2 sera, the antigen was sensitive to proteinase.