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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Bacteria and Host
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2024.1410282
This article is part of the Research Topic Women in Bacteria and Host vol. II View all 5 articles

Antibodies directed against bacterial antigens in sera of Polish patients with primary biliary cholangitis

Provisionally accepted
Alicja Bauer Alicja Bauer 1*Andrzej Habior Andrzej Habior 2
  • 1 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, Warsaw, Poland
  • 2 Clinic of Polish Gastroenterology Foundation, Warsaw, Masovian, Poland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is a cholestatic, autoimmune liver disease with the presence of characteristic autoantibodies. The aim of the work was to determine the level of antibodies directed against bacterial antigens: Chlamydia pneumoniae (anti-Cpn), Yersinia enterolitica (anti-Y.e), Helicobacter pylori (anti-Hp), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (anti-Mp.) and Escherichia coli (E.coli) in sera of PBC patients. We also performed in vitro studies on the impact of the bacterial peptides on the specific antigen-antibody binding.We screened 92 Polish PBC patients and sera samples from healthy donors and pathological controls. Autoantibodies and anti-bacterial antibodies were determined by commercially available ELISA kits. Specific inhibition of antibody binding was also detected by the in house ELISA method.Anti-Cpn, anti-Y. enterolitica, anti-Hp, anti-M. pneumoniae and anti-E. coli antibodies were significantly more common in the group of PBC patients than in the pathological and healthy control groups: 74%, 40%, 84%, 39% and 69% respectively. The mean level of anti-Cpn, anti-Y.e, anti-Hp and anti-M.p in the PBC group was significantly higher than those in the healthy group (p < 0.001). and in patients with other liver diseases. In sera of patients with the presence of positive antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA), specific for PBC, anti-bacterial antibodies have been found in 80% vs. 50% in sera with AMA negative. We observed inhibition of specific antigen-antibody binding by the bacterial peptide: EClpP (E. coli caseinolytic protease) and adenine glycosylase from E. coli caseinolytic protease P, ClpP Y.e from peptide of Y. enterolitica, Mp PDC from M. pneumonia peptide and adenine glycosylase of E. coli. Bacterial factors influence the specific binding of antibodies to pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDC-E2), gp210 and KLHL12 (kelch-like peptide 12) antigens.Microbial mimics may be the major targets of cross-reactivity with human pyruvate dehydrogenase, gp210, and KLHL12 in PBC.

    Keywords: PBC, Bacterial infection, Autoantibodies, Molecular Mimicry, Autoimmunity

    Received: 31 Mar 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Bauer and Habior. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Alicja Bauer, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, Warsaw, Poland

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