A. Benyehuda et al., THE URINE OF SLE PATIENTS CONTAINS ANTIBODIES THAT BIND TO THE LAMININ COMPONENT OF THE EXTRACELLULAR-MATRIX, Journal of autoimmunity, 8(2), 1995, pp. 279-291
Direct immunofluorescence of tissues derived from patients affected wi
th SLE demonstrates antibodies bound to the extracellular matrix (ECM)
. In the present work we have tested whether such antibodies are found
in the serum and urine of lupus patients and mice. We found that the
urine of patients with active SLE and of MRL/lpr/lpr mice contains ant
ibodies that bind ECM and that a major target for these antibodies is
the 200 kDa light chain of laminin which is one of the matrix componen
ts. The level of the anti-ECM, anti-laminin antibodies correlates with
disease activity.