| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Autoantibodies directed against the 160 kDa endosome protein early endosome antigen 1 (EEA1) are seen in patients with neurological diseases. To determine if antibodies to EEA1 have a neuropathological effect, mice from three major histocompatability haplotype backgrounds (H2<sup>q</sup>, H2<sup>b </sup>and H2<sup>d</sup>) were immunized with EEA1 (amino acids 82–1411) that was previously shown to contain the target EEA1 epitopes. The mice were then subjected to five neuro-behavioural tests: grid walking, forelimb strength, open field, reaching and rotarod.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The immunized SWR/J mice with sustained anti-EEA1 antibodies had significantly reduced forelimb strength than the control non-immune mice of the same strain, and BALB/CJ immune mice demonstrated significantly more forelimb errors on the grid walk test than the control group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Antibodies to recombinant EEA1 in mice may mediate neurological deficits that are consistent with clinical features of some humans that spontaneously develop anti-EEA1 autoantibodies.</p>
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