Ulcerative colitis panca secretory vesicle antigen and methods of using same

摘要

The present invention provides a substantially pure UC pANCA secretory vesicle antigen, including a protein immunoreactive with NANUC-1 and NANUC-2 and having the characteristic of being selectively expressed in secretory vesicle membrane. Pharmaceutical compositions containing the substantially pure UC pANCA secretory vesicle antigen and a pharmaceutical carrier also are provided. The invention further provides a tolerogenic composition containing the substantially pure UC pANCA secretory vesicle antigen, or tolerogenic fragment thereof, combined with a tolerogizing molecule. In addition, there are provided methods of diagnosing ulcerative colitis in a patient and methods of determining susceptibility to ulcerative colitis in an individual using the substantially pure UC pANCA secretory vesicle antigen. The invention further provides methods of inducing tolerance in a pANCA-positive patient with UC and methods of preventing ulcerative colitis in an individual by administering the substantially pure UC pANCA secretory vesicle antigen, or tolerogenic fragment thereof.