ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the aspects that relate to the biochemistry and molecular biology of certain protein-associated nuclear antigens. The classical procedure for the detection of autoantibodies to nuclear components has been the indirect immunofluorescent method. Autoantibodies to nuclear antigens have also been reported in a number of other conditions such as leukemia and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The classical procedure for the detection of autoantibodies to nuclear components has been the indirect immunofluorescent method. The hemagglutination technique has also been used to detect antibodies to DNA although the method has been adopted for some studies on antibodies to Sm and protein-associated antigens antigens. The Scl-1 antigen associated with scleroderma has been characterized by Tan’s laboratory as a chromatin-bound protein with a molecular weight of 70,000. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the major protein associated with the antigen had a molecular weight of 40,000, but other components with molecular weights near 30,000 and 13,000 were reported as being not reproducible.
