Antibodies from alcoholics, ethanol-fed rats and a rabbit immunised with proteins modified by acetaldehyde in vitro react with liver cytosolic proteins from ethanol-fed rats.

In previous studies we have shown that ethanol-fed rats generate antibodies reactive with proteins modified by acetaldehyde in vitro and that their livers contain proteins modified by acetaldehyde. In this study we demonstrate that the antibodies from these animals react with the modified proteins found in their livers. Furthermore, when the antibodies reactive with specific proteins were isolated, they were found to react with all of the modified proteins detected by the whole serum. This suggests that all of the proteins modified by acetaldehyde in vivo carry the same or similar epitope(s). In addition, antibodies from alcoholics and a rabbit immunised with proteins modified by acetaldehyde in vitro also reacted with the liver cytosolic proteins from ethanol-fed rats. Therefore it appears that similar epitopes are generated in alcoholics as a result of ethanol misuse, in rat liver due to prolonged ethanol feeding and by the in vitro modification procedure used to produce the immunogen for the rabbit.