Detection of serum antibodies to S-antigen by surface plasmon resonance (SPR).

Serum autoantibodies to visual arrestin, also termed S-antigen, have been shown to accompany several autoimmune-related diseases. However, they were also detected in sera of healthy individuals; there is lack of a sensitive and fast method for evaluation of putative differences between those two groups of antibodies. We show that, using biosensor technology based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR), it was possible to characterize real-time interactions of immune sera with immobilized arrestin.

[Role of arrestins in intracellular signaling].

Arrestins are cytosolic proteins involved in the termination of signaling by activated G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). Four different arrestins are identified in mammals to date. Two of these are specific to retinal photoreceptor cells, while the other two (beta-arrestin 1 and 2) are ubiquitously expressed.