Antibodies to double stranded (ds)DNA play a central role in clinical diagnosis and disease expression in Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This paper describes the isolation of anti‐idiotype reagents (anti/antidsDNA) from four SLE sera and the demonstration of broad and quantitatively similar cross reactivity to both polyclonal and monoclonal anti‐dsDNA antibodies isolated from SLE patients. Seven affinity‐purified polyclonal and three monoclonal human anti‐dsDNA preparations reacted preferentially with anti‐idiotype F(ab′)2 coated plates compared to normal immunoglobulin (Ig)G F(ab′)2 coated plates in elisa. In contrast, autoantibodies of other specificities (anti‐Ro/SSA, anti‐La/SSB, and anti‐U1RNP) reacted equally with anti/anti‐dsDNA F(ab′)2 and normal IgG F(ab′)2 coated plates. Such anti‐idiotypic antibodies could play a significant role in the regulation of anti‐dsDNA antibody levels in SLE.
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