DNA- and RNA-Hydrolyzing Antibodies from the Blood of Patients with Various Forms of Viral Hepatitis

A. G. Baranovsky,¹ V. G. Matushin,² A. V. Vlassov,¹ V. G. Zabara,³ V. A. Naumov,³ R. Giege,⁴ V. N. Buneva,¹ and G. A. Nevinsky^1,5

¹Novosibirsk Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Lavrent'eva 8, Novosibirsk, 630090 Russia; fax: (3832) 35-1665; E-mail: nev@modul.bioch.nsk.su

²Novosibirsk State University, pr. Pirogova 2, Novosibirsk, 630090 Russia.

³Army Hospital No. 333, ul. Voinskaya 24, Novosibirsk, 630017 Russia.

⁴Institut de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire du CNRS, 15, rue Rene Descartes, Strasbourg 67000, France.

⁵To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Submitted July 17, 1997.

---

Antibodies (Abs) hydrolyzing proteins, DNA, and RNA are detected in the blood of patients with various autoimmune diseases. In the present work, homogeneous preparations of IgG Abs from the blood of the healthy donors as well as patients with A, B, C, and delta types of viral hepatitis, influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis, tonsillitis, duodenal ulcer, and some types of cancer were purified. For the first time, the fraction of IgG and its Fab fragments of patients with viral hepatitis were shown to have high DNA- and RNA-hydrolyzing activity. In case of Abs from the healthy donors and patients with other diseases, high activity of Abs was not detected. The data obtained by various methods indicate that the activity of hepatitis Abs is an intrinsic property of the immunoglobulins. The relative rates of hydrolysis of cCMP, poly(U), poly(A), poly(C), and tRNA^Phe by hepatitis Abs were compared with those of RNAse A and other RNAses from human blood. Significant differences in activities of Abs and nucleases in hydrolysis of model substrates were demonstrated. Thus, catalytically active Abs can appear in the blood of patients not only with autoimmune disorders, but with viral diseases as well.

---

KEY WORDS: catalytically active antibodies, abzyme, human blood, hepatitis, ribonuclease, RNA hydrolysis, DNA hydrolysis.

---