1. ¹Nephrology Research Laboratory, Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
2. ²Division of Nephrology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Correspondence: JH Berden, Nephrology Research Laboratory (279), Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences, Division of Nephrology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Abstract

The binding of anti-double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) autoantibodies to the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) in lupus nephritis can be explained by two mechanisms: (1) direct crossreactive binding to intrinsic glomerular antigens; (2) nucleosome-mediated binding to heparan sulfate in the GBM. Kalaaji et al. demonstrated using novel techniques that glomerular in vivo-bound antoantibodies bind to nucleosomes/dsDNA derived from apoptotic cells and not to intrinsic glomerular structures.