BACKGROUND Anti-centromere auto-antibodies (ACA) have been described as a marker in Systemic sclerosis (SSc) disease. CENP-B is the major centromere auto-antigen recognized by SSc patients with positive ACA. Our aim was to characterize the major epitope involved in the anti-CENP-B immune response of Moroccan SSc patients. PATIENTS AND METHOD For identification of SSc biomarkers, 80 sera from patients with SSc and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were screened by indirect immunofluorescence test (IIF) to assess the presence of ANA reactivity. Immunoblotting analysis was performed for 11 sera with positive ACA using the N-terminal and C-terminal region of CENP-B protein as antigens. RESULTS 29 out of 30 (96, 66 %) patients with SSc had positive ANA. 11 out of 30 (36, 67 %) patients were ACA positive and 6 of them produced auto-antibodies against Nt-CENPB antigen. Two of these 6 Nt-CENPB positive sera produced also other auto-antibodies associated to primary biliary cirrhosis. None of all sera tested showed reactivity against Ct-CENPB. CONCLUSION Our data showed, for the first time in Morocco, that the Nt-CENPB contains a major epitope for Moroccan SSc patients. These findings could provide additional information that would contribute to improving the diagnosis and management of these patients.

中文翻译：

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带有抗着丝粒自身抗体的摩洛哥硬皮病患者CENP-B表位的蛋白质组学表征。

背景技术抗着丝粒自身抗体（ACA）已经被描述为系统性硬化症（SSc）疾病的标志物。CENP-B是ACA阳性的SSc患者识别的主要着丝粒自身抗原。我们的目的是鉴定摩洛哥SSc患者抗CENP-B免疫反应中涉及的主要表位。患者和方法为鉴定SSc生物标志物，通过间接免疫荧光试验（IIF）筛选了SSc和系统性红斑狼疮（SLE）患者的80份血清，以评估ANA反应性的存在。使用CENP-B蛋白的N端和C端区域作为抗原，对ACA阳性的11份血清进行了免疫印迹分析。结果30例SSc患者中有29例（96，66％）ANA阳性。30分中的11分（36，67％的患者ACA阳性，其中6人产生了针对Nt-CENPB抗原的自身抗体。这6个Nt-CENPB阳性血清中有两个也产生了与原发性胆汁性肝硬化相关的其他自身抗体。所有测试的血清均未显示出对Ct-CENPB的反应性。结论我们的数据首次在摩洛哥显示Nt-CENPB包含摩洛哥SSc患者的主要表位。这些发现可能会提供其他信息，这些信息将有助于改善这些患者的诊断和管理。