High affinity cross-reacting mAb generated by minimal mimicry: implications for the pathogenesis of anti-nuclear autoantibodies and immunosuppression.

The antigen recognition of a profoundly immunosuppressive mAb, mAb 2E1, in vivo was investigated. In addition to the 62-kDa effector cell protease receptor 1, mAb 2E1 bound the 32-kDa T cell adhesion receptor E2 (CD99) and the 86-kDa p80 subunit of the nuclear antigen complex Ku. These molecules share no overall sequence similarity. Peptide mapping experiments identified the mAb 2E1 cross-reacting epitopes as the sequences 66GSFSDADLAD75 in E2 and 571GGAHFSVSSLAEG583 in p80 of Ku, sharing a minimal homology motif FSXXXLA, in which X is a nonconserved amino acid. Each of these peptides separately inhibited the binding of mAb 2E1 to E2, effector cell protease receptor 1, and p80 of Ku in a dose-dependent manner. Scatchard plot analysis of 125I-labeled mAb 2E1 binding to peripheral blood mononuclear cells revealed a high-affinity interaction with a dissociation constant of 7 x 10(-10) M. An anti-E2 mAb bound the same epitope 66GSFSDADLAD75 recognized by mAb 2E1 but failed to react with p80 of Ku and was not immunosuppressive. These findings demonstrate that high-affinity cross-reacting mAbs can be generated by mimicry of a minimal surface on unrelated molecules. This model of minimal mimicry may determine the nuclear reactivity of certain autoantibodies to Ku and contribute to aberrant immunosuppression in vivo.