A ribonucleic acid‐specific antibody produced during autoimmune disease: evidence for nucleotide sequence specificity

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Abstract
A hybridoma secreting RNA-binding autoantibody has been produced by fusion of spleen cells from autoimmune NZB/NZW F1 mice with drug-resistant IgG2b,-producing myeloma cells from BALB/c mice. Studies on the specificity of the purified monoclonal autoantibody revealed: (a) absolute specificity for ribopolynucleotides as compared with deoxyribopolynucleotides; (b) specificity for single-stranded RNA as compared with double-stranded RNA; (c) high affinity for the random copolymer poly(G, C); and (d) preference for the random heteropolymer poly(G, C, U). These studies were complemented by stoichiometric measurements of the antibody-RNA complex and computer analysis of the abundance of various di-, tri-and tetranucleotide sequences in native RNA. Taken together, these data suggest that the anti-genie determinant recognized by the monoclonal autoantibody is largely composed of a trinucleotide sequence of single-stranded RNA containing G, C and U residues.