Epitope spreading and autoimmune glomerulonephritis in rats induced by a T cell epitope of Goodpasture's antigen
An amino-terminal region of a, chain of type IV collagen noncollagenous domain [alpha(3)(IV)NC1] that induces experimental autoimmune glomerulortephritis (EAG) in rats has been identified. Only recombinant antigens that contain a nine-amino acid (AA) span of alpha(3)(IV)NC1, consistent with a T cell epitope, could induce EAG. It was hypothesized that synthetic peptides of this region should induce
