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Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Peptide Scanning-assisted Identification of a Monoclonal Antibody-recognized Linear B-cell Epitope
Published on: March 24, 2017
p185, an immunodominant epitope, is an autoantigen mimotope
Sanjeev Kumar1, John A Hinks, Joseph Maman
1Centre for Rheumatology, University College London Division of Medicine, University College London Hospital, London W1T 4JF, UK. s.kumar@ucl.ac.uk
Abstract:
An immunodominant peptide (p185(378-394)) derived from the c-erbB2 gene product, was recognized by an anti-DNA antibody, B3, and importantly by two classical DNA-binding proteins, Tgo polymerase and Pa-UDG. These reactivities were inhibited by DNA, confirming that the peptide mimicked DNA. BALB/c mice immunized with p185(378-394) developed significant titers of IgG anti-dsDNA antibodies. Screening of 39 human lupus sera revealed that 5% of these sera possessed reactivity toward p185(378-394). Representative mouse and human sera with anti-p185(378-394) reactivity bound intact p185, and this binding was inhibited by dsDNA. This is the first demonstration of a naturally occurring autoantigen mimotope. The present study identifies a potential antigenic stimulus that might trigger systemic lupus erythematosus in a subset of patients.
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