Response to 'Fragment of tegument protein pp65 of human cytomegalovirus induces autoantibodies in BALB/c mice'

Table 1 Immunofluorescence patterns and titers of AIT test in SLE-CMV, SLE and CMV groups

	Titer
Patterns from AIT test	≤1:20	1:40	1:80	1:160	1:320	1:640	1:1280	≥1:2560	Total
SLE-CMV group^a
Homogeneous						2		9	11
Homogeneous + speckled						4		13	17
Homogeneous + cytoplasmic								1	1
Homogeneous + diffuse granular								4	4
Homogeneous + speckled + cytoplasmic								3	3
Speckled							1	8	9
Speckled + cytoplasmic				1				1	2
Diffuse granular + cytoplasmic								1	1
Diffuse cytoplasmic + speckled								3	3
Diffuse cytoplasmic + diffuse granular								2	2
Total	0	0	0	1	0	6	1	45	53
SLE group^b
Homogeneous						1	2	15	18
Homogeneous + speckled					2		3	33	38
Homogeneous + cytoplasmic								2	2
Homogeneous + diffuse granular							1	12	13
Homogeneous + speckled + cytoplasmic					2		1	4	7
Speckled					5	3	5	34	47
Speckled + cytoplasmic					1	3	3	3	10
Diffuse granular + cytoplasmic					2		1	5	8
Diffuse granular						1	5	7	13
Diffuse cytoplasmic + speckled								9	9
Diffuse cytoplasmic + diffuse granular						1	1		2
Diffuse cytoplasmic + nucleolar						1		2	3
Total	0	0	0	0	12	10	22	126	170
CMV group^c
MTOC-MT			4	4	1	1	1		11
MTOC-MT + IF + speckled		1	1	2			1		5
Speckled			2						2
Negative	4								4
Total	4	1	7	6	1	1	2	0	22

^aSLE-CMV group, anti-CMV IgM-positive SLE patients; ^bSLE group, anti-CMV IgM-negative SLE patients; ^cCMV group, anti-CMV IgM-positive patients without SLE. The AIT test was performed using an indirect immunofluorescent test kit (IT-AIT™; ImmunoThink Co., Seoul, Republic of Korea). In the CMV group, anti-MTOC-MT-positive patients accounted for 72.7% of the total patients in the CMV group and 88.9% of autoantibody-positive patients, but in the SLE-CMV group, anti-MTOC-MT was not detected at all (P < 0.001). Patients in the SLE-CMV group showed high titers of over 1:640 except for one who received steroid pulse therapy just before the test, but the proportion of patients in the CMV group with a titer over 1:640 was not more than 13.6% (P < 0.001). In addition, most of the autoantibody frequently found in the SLE-CMV group was not found in the CMV group. AIT, autoimmune target; CMV, cytomegalovirus; IF, intermediate filament; MTOC-MT, microtubule organizing center with microtubule; SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus.