Isolation and characterization of a protein from sciatic nerve myelin responsible for experimental allergic neuritis.

Abstract

EXPERIMENTAL allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an autoimmune demyelinating disease1,2 of the central nervous system (CNS) induced by the basic Al protein3 of the myelin membrane (30% of the total protein). The complete aminoacid sequences of the human and bovine A1 proteins have been determined4,5. The open conformation6–8 of the A1 protein (18,400 molecular weight) emphasizes the role of the primary structure in determining its immunological properties. From isolated peptide fragments, disease-inducing sites of the A1 protein have been identified and subsequently synthesized9–11.