Reactive oxygen species modified DNA fragments of varying size are the preferred antigen for human anti-DNA autoantibodies.

In vitro studies were carried out to determine if reactive oxygen species modified DNA molecules are the preferred antigen for anti-DNA antibodies found in SLE sera. Reactive oxygen species were generated by 254 nm irradiation of hydrogen peroxide. Single stranded breaks, decrease in Tm and modification of adenine (21.7%) and thymine (48%) were the major effects observed on native DNA fragments of 300 bp in length. The ROS-modified DNA showed increased binding with naturally occurring anti-DNA autoantibodies as compared to unmodified DNA fragments. These results were substantiated by competition ELISA. Measurement of binding with DNA fragments of varying size revealed considerably increased binding as the fragment size increased from 50 bp to 800 bp. The relative affinity of anti-DNA IgG for ROS-modified and native DNA fragments of 300 bp were in the order of 6.26 x 10(-8) M and 4.07 x 10(-8) M, respectively.