Toassessthepresenceofautoantibodiesagainstepitopesofheterogenousnuclearribonucleoprotein-Ⅰ(hnRNP-Ⅰ)insystematicsclerosis(SSc)andtoanalyzetheirclinicalsignificance,polypeptidesofhnRNP-ⅠweredesignedbybiologicaltechnicalsoftwareandanalyzedwithboththeWonderfulBiologyInformationSystemandDNAStar-ProteanAnalysisSoftwareatthesametime.Intheseways,twopolypeptidesofhnRNP-Ⅰwereobtainedbasedontheiraminoacidsequences,foldingfeatures,hydrophilic,curlstyle,doughkneadingsensationandthepossibilityonthesurfaceofproteins.TheyarenamedashnRNP-Ⅰ-1(NVKYNNDKSRDYTRPDLPSGDSQPSLDQT,264-292aa)andhnRNP-Ⅰ-2(QLP4REGQEDQGLTKDYGNSOL,441-461aa),simplydesignatedasⅠ-1andⅠ-2.TheautoantibodiesagainsthnRNPsweredetectedbymeansofELISAusingthesyntheticepitopespolypeptidesasantigen.Itwasfoundthatthepositiverateofdetectionforanti-Ⅰ-1andanti-Ⅰ-2autoantibodieswereratherhigherinSScpatientsthanthatinotherCTDsandthesensitivitiesandspecificitiesofthetestingwithELJSAforanti-Ⅰ-1andanti-Ⅰ-2antibodiesinSScpatientswere47.62%/93.43%and38.1%/91.08%,withoutanysignificantdifferencebetweenthesetwogroupsoftestings.Also,therewasnosignificantdifferenceintheclinicalfeaturesandlaboratoryfindings,suchasage,involvementsindigestiveandrespiratorytractsanderythrocytesedimentationrateetc.,betweentheanti-Ⅰ-1-positiveand-negativegroupsinSScpatients.However,thehnRNP-Ⅰ-autoantibody-positivegroupofpatientshadobviouslyshorterdurationofdiseasecoursecomparedwiththatoftheautoantibody-negativegroup.Anti-Ⅰ-1andanti-Ⅰ-2autoantibodiesalsohadnoassociationwithantinuclearantibody,anti-Scl70andanti-centromereantibody(ACA)inSScpatients.So,itisapparentthattheautoantibodiesrelatedwithSScmayactthroughdifferentpathwaysinthepathogenesisofSSc,andthehnRNP-Ⅰautoantibodyisanewtypeantibodyoccuringdu
