Sitzungsberichte der
Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften

4

Molecular and Cell Biology of Autoantibodies and Autoimmunity

DNA elements. In vivo and in vitro structure/function studies using in vitro
engineered mutants and chimeric receptors expressed in animal and yeast cells
have revealed the existence of several functional domains responsible for ligand
binding, nuclear localization, dimerization, DNA binding and activation of
transcription. A model aimed at explaining how nuclear receptors may function
will be discussed.

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Multiple Components of SS-A/Ro Autoantigen: cDNA Cloning of the
52kDa Protein
E.K.L. Chan1, J.C. Hamel1, C.L. Peebles1, J.P. Buyon2, and E.M. Tan1
Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, La Jolla, California, USA
2 Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute, New York, USA
SS-A/Ro proteins are common autoantibdy targets of patients with Sjogren's
syndrome, systemic lupus, subacute cutaneous lupus, and neonatal lupus. Our
aim is to characterize these components using immunoblotting and cDNA clon-
ing. Human autoimmune SS-A/Ro sere frequently immunoblot a 60 kDa and a