Human anticentromere antibodies: distribution, characterization of antigens, and effect on microtubule organization.

Properties of human anticentromere autoantibodies were analyzed. In intact cells or isolated cell fractions, these sera stain the centromeres of mitotic chromosomes and discrete speckles (prekinetochores) in nuclei. Staining is also retained in matrix preparations from nuclei or chromosomes. Immunoprecipitation or immunoblotting demonstrates protein antigens of 14, 20, 23, and 34 kd in HeLa nuclei and chromosomes; immunoprecipitates of nuclei also contain a protein of 15.5 kd. Matrix preparations contain only the 20, 23, and 34 kd species. Absorption of the anticentromere serum with any one of the four nuclear antigens immobilized on nitrocellulose is sufficient to eliminate centromere staining. Using a lysed cell model for microtubule nucleation, anticentromere sera are shown to inhibit specifically the organization of microtubules at the kinetochore.