Referenced in: none

Automatically associated channels: Kir2.3

Title: Identification of binding sites for anti-aquaporin 4 antibodies in patients with neuromyelitis optica.

Authors: T Tani, K Sakimura, M Tsujita, T Nakada, M Tanaka, M Nishizawa, K Tanaka

Journal, date & volume: J. Neuroimmunol., 2009 Jun 25 , 211, 110-3

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19410301

Abstract
Anti-aquaporin 4 antibodies (AQP4-Ab) are specifically detected in patients with neuromyelitis optica. To investigate the role of AQP4-Ab, we examined the antibody binding epitope using human and mouse mutant AQP4.We constructed human and mouse amino acid substitution AQP4 mutants and compared the reactivity with wild-form of human, mouse and rat AQP4.The decreased intensity of AQP4-Ab staining with mouse AQP4 was recovered to that of human AQP4 with the mouse mutant A228E for 9 of the 10 sera.The third extracellular loop of AQP4 is considered to be the major epitope for AQP4-Ab in NMO.