TY - GEN A1 - Liedtke, Victoria A1 - Rose, Laura A1 - Hiemann, Rico A1 - Nasser, Abdullah A1 - Rödiger, Stefan A1 - Bonaventura, Alena A1 - Winkler, Laura A1 - Sowa, Mandy A1 - Stöckle, Michael A1 - Schierack, Peter A1 - Junker, Kerstin A1 - Roggenbuck, Dirk T1 - Over-Expression of LEDGF/p75 in HEp-2 Cells Enhances Autoimmune IgG Response in Patients with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia—A Novel Diagnostic Approach with Therapeutic Consequence? T2 - International Journal of Molecular Sciences N2 - Lens epithelium-derived growth factor splice variant of 75 kDa (LEDGF/p75) is an autoantigen over-expressed in solid tumors and acts as a stress-related transcriptional co-activator. Participation of autoimmune responses in the pathophysiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia (PBH) and a corresponding immunosuppressive therapy by TNFalpha antagonists has been recently suggested. Thus, autoAb testing could aid in the diagnosis of BPH patients profiting from such therapy. We generated CRISPR/Cas9 modified HEp-2 LEDGF knock-out (KO) and HEp-2 LEDGF/p75 over-expressing (OE) cells and examined IgG autoantibody reactivity to LEDGF/p75 in patients with prostate cancer (PCa, n = 89), bladder cancer (BCa, n = 116), benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH, n = 103), and blood donors (BD, n = 60) by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Surprisingly, we could not detect elevated binding of autoAbs against LEDGF/p75 in cancer patients, but autoAb reactivity to LEDGF/p75 OE cells in about 50% of patients with BPH was unexpectedly significantly increased. Furthermore, a line immunoassay enabling the detection of 18 different autoAbs revealed a significantly increased occurrence of anti-dsDNA autoAbs in 34% of BPH patients in contrast to tumor patients and BD. This finding was confirmed by anti-mitochondrial (mDNA) autoAb detection with the Crithidia luciliae immunofluorescence test, which also showed a significantly higher prevalence (34%) of anti-mDNA autoAbs in BPH. In summary, our study provided further evidence for the occurrence of autoimmune responses in BPH. Furthermore, LEDGF/p75 over-expression renders HEp-2 cells more autoantigenic and an ideal target for autoAb analysis in BPH with a potential therapy consequence. KW - LEDGF/p75 KW - autoimmunity KW - CRISPR/Cas9 KW - dsDNA KW - mDNA Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24076166 SN - 1422-0067 VL - 24 IS - 7 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Lopens, Steffi A1 - Wunsch, Ewa A1 - Milkiewicz, Malgorzata A1 - Röber, Nadja A1 - Zarske, Grit A1 - Nasser, Abdullah A1 - Conrad, Karsten A1 - Laass, Martin W. A1 - Rödiger, Stefan A1 - Krawczyk, Marcin A1 - Roggenbuck, Dirk A1 - Milkiewicz, Piotr T1 - PR3-ANCAs Detected by Third-Generation ELISA Predicts Severe Disease and Poor Survival in Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis T2 - Diagnostics N2 - A highly sensitive detection of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies to serine proteinase-3 (PR3-ANCAs) aids in the serological diagnosis of autoimmune liver disorders and the prediction of severity in primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). Here, we evaluate a novel third-generation ELISA for the detection of PR3-ANCAs. In total, 309 patients with PSC, 51 with primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), and 120 healthy blood donors (BD) were analyzed. For the survival analysis in PSC, the outcome was defined as liver-transplantation-free survival during the follow-up. Positive PR3-ANCA levels were found in 74/309 (24.0%) of patients with PSC. No BDs and one patient with PBC demonstrated PR3-ANCA positivity. PR3-ANCAs were revealed as independent predictors for a poor PSC outcome (study endpoint: liver transplantation/death, log-rank test, p = 0.02). PR3-ANCA positivity, lower albumin levels, and higher bilirubin concentrations were independent risks of a poor survival (Cox proportional-hazards regression analysis, p < 0.05). The Mayo risk score for PSC was associated with PR3-ANCA positivity (p = 0.01) and the disease severity assessed with a model of end-stage liver disease (MELD) and extended MELD-Na (p < 0.05). PR3-ANCAs detected by a third-generation ELISA are diagnostic and prognostic markers for PSC. Their wider use could help to identify patients who are at-risk of a more severe disease. KW - primary sclerosing cholangitis KW - antibodies against serine protease proteinase-3 KW - survival KW - health-related quality of life KW - liver biochemistry KW - disease severity Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12112682 SN - 2075-4418 VL - 12 IS - 11 ER -