ANTI-GOLGI AUTOANTIBODIES

Anti-Golgi autoantibodies. Anti-Golgi autoantibodies were first report ed 10 years ago. They are routinely detected by standard immunofluores cence whereas other methods such as immunoblotting or immunoelectron m icroscopy have provided some informations relating to the autoantigens that they recognize. From a clinical point of view, a distinction is appropriate between antibodies occuring at low titer in patients with some viral infections as well as in normal subjects, and antibodies of high titers found in association with autoimmune diseases such as Sjo gren's syndrome or systemic lupus erythematosus. An associated liver d ysfunction is also often noticed. Anti-Golgi autoantibodies are polycl onal and often mainly of the IgG isotype. In each case studied by immu noelectron microscopy, the recognized molecules were exclusively locat ed on membranes of several cisternae. Although the real nature remains unknown, molecular weights of some autoantigens begin to be ascertain ed: bands of 230, 150 and 79 kDa have been revealed by different sera when tested by immunoblotting. Beside eventual implications in the fie ld of pathogenesis, the study of this new kind of autoantibodies, base d on the description of more sera and patients, might help to characte rize some particular subsets of patients.