Antibodies to dsDNA: failure to detect antigenic determinants specific for superhelical B-DNA

IgG antibodies of SLE sera were tested for their reactivity with SV40 DNA in superhelical, open circular and linear conformations. In binding and competition studies with 12 IgG dsDNA positive sera we could not demonstrate antibodies reacting with antigenic sites specific for superhelical structures of DNA, nor did we find Z-DNA antibodies reacting with superhelical SV40 DNA.