Identification of the β- and γ-subunits of F1-ATPase as target antigens in anti-M2/PDC-E2 negative primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC)

Antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) reacting with the 2-oxo-acid dehydrogenase complex (OADC) are the most reliable indicators for the diagnosis of PBC. In the last years we observed in an increasing incidence that sera from PBC patients show in the IFT the typical AMA-pattern but are negative for the OADC when tested in ELISA and Western blotting. With those sera we found in the Western blot a reaction at 60 and 80kDa using a preparation from bovine heart mitochondria. The 60kDa band contained–besides other proteins–subunits of the F0F1-ATPase. Here we will show that two of the five subunits (α, β, γ, δ, ε) of t…