Clinical significance of autoantibodies to Ku and related antigens

Abstract

The Ku antigen was first described by Mimori et al. [1] as a nonhistone nuclear antigen producing a precipitin line with serum from a patient with scleroderma-polymyositis overlap syndrome. Although originally thought to be relatively specific for this unusual subset of autoimmune disease, subsequent studies have shown that autoantibodies to Ku are also found in some sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), scleroderma, polymyositis, Grave’s disease, and primary pulmonary hypertension [2–6]. Thus, serum autoantibodies specific for Ku cannot at present be regarded as a diagnostic marker for any particular autoimmune disease subset.