Heterogeneity of the Ro/SSA antigen. Different molecular forms in lymphocytes and red blood cells.

Ro(SSA) is an intracellular ribonucleoprotein against which autoantibodies are found in a portion of patients with Sjögren's syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus. A form of Ro(SSA) is described in red blood cells that shares a line of identity with purified Ro(SSA) from bovine spleen and human lymphocytes in counterimmunoelectrophoresis, but has different molecular properties. Ro(SSA) from red blood cells exists in association with only two small RNAs as opposed to four in other cell types, as determined by RNA extraction of protein A-assisted immunoprecipitates. In addition to the common 60-kD Ro(SSA) protein, Western blot analysis revealed an additional 52-kD protein in lymphocytes and a 54-kD protein in red blood cells. The 60-kD form of Ro(SSA) in red cells was found to be antigenically distinct from that in the lymphocyte, because sera were identified that bound each exclusively. Finally, a rabbit antibovine Ro(SSA) serum distinguished red cell from lymphocyte Ro(SSA). These results suggest two distinctive populations of Ro(SSA) proteins and distributions of Ro(SSA) RNAs in the lymphocyte and red blood cell.