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Binding of thyrotropin to selected mycoplasma species: detection of serum antibodies against a specific mycoplasma membrane antigen in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease

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Abstract

Radiolabeled human (hTSH) and bovine (bTSH) thyroid stimulating hormone was shown to bind to five species of Mycoplasma, the wall-less prokaryotes. The maximum binding capacity of 125 I-bTSH to these five species was about 7.9 × 10−13 moles −1.4 × 10−12 moles for 50–100 μg protein with dissociation constants of approximately 1.7 to 2.2 × 10−7M. Approximately 50% of the 125I-bTSH binding was displaced by excess, unlabeled bTSH or hTSH, but labeled bTSH was not effectively displaced by growth hormone, LH, FSH, prolactin, or the beta subunit of hTSH, FSH and LH. Antisera prepared against Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Mycoplasma pneumoniae bound to human thyroid membranes and guinea pig fat cells, suggesting that receptors on human thyroid tissues and on Mycoplasma cells may have similarities in antigenicity. These findings were substantiated by the occurrence of TSH binding to Mycoplasma antisera. Further, sera from three of six patients with Graves’ disease containing antibodies to thyroid tissues also reacted to a 108 Kd polypeptide of Mycoplasma gallisepticum.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Endocrine-Metabolic and Transplant-Immunology Services, Departments of Medicine and Clinical Investigation, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20307-5001, USA

    J. Sack, Y. G. Lukes, J. R. Baker Jr., L. Wartofsky &  K. D. Burman

  2. Cell Biology and Immunology Section, Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA

    D. Zilberstein

  3. Laboratory of Mycoplasma, Office of Biologics Research and Review, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA

    M. F. Barile

  4. Department of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814-4799, USA

    J. Sack, Y. G. Lukes, J. R. Baker Jr., L. Wartofsky &  K. D. Burman

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  1. J. Sack
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  2. D. Zilberstein
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  3. M. F. Barile
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  4. Y. G. Lukes
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  5. J. R. Baker Jr.
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  6. L. Wartofsky
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  7. K. D. Burman
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Additional information

The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the Authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.

Current address of Joseph Sack is Chain Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel. This work was performed while on sabbatical leave from Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University. The current address of Dan Zilberstein is Department of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.

Portions of these data have been presented in abstract form (Endocrine Society, Abstract 834, June 1986).

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Sack, J., Zilberstein, D., Barile, M.F. et al. Binding of thyrotropin to selected mycoplasma species: detection of serum antibodies against a specific mycoplasma membrane antigen in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease. J Endocrinol Invest 12, 77–86 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03349925

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03349925

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