ANTITUBULIN ANTIBODIES IN A SENSORIMOTOR NEUROPATHY PATIENT ALTER TUBULIN POLYMERIZATION

The effect of anti-tubulin antibodies present in the serum of a patien t with a progressive sensorimotor neuropath!! on microtubule assembly was examined. The patient's serum was reactive on immunoblots with a s ingle band of proteins of 55-kDa from homogenates of neural tissues. T ubulin was identified as the quantitatively major component of these 5 5-kDa proteins. Polymerization of tubulin in vitro was significantly e nhanced by the patient's serum. A monoclonal antibody to nerve-specifi c class III beta-tubulin precisely duplicated the immunoreactive profi le of the patient's serum, while an antibody to class (I + II) beta-tu bulins also reacted with tubulins in non-neural tissues. The results i ndicate for the first time that human antisera reactive with nerve spe cific beta-tubulin can alter tubulin polymerization-depolymerization d ynamics.