PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Fen-Fen Lin
AU  - Robin Elliott
AU  - Anne Colombero
AU  - Kevin Gaida
AU  - Laura Kelley
AU  - Angelica Moksa
AU  - Shu-Yin Ho
AU  - Ekaterina Bykova
AU  - Min Wong
AU  - Palaniswami Rathanaswami
AU  - Sylvia Hu
AU  - John K. Sullivan
AU  - Hung Q. Nguyen
AU  - Helen J. McBride
TI  - Generation and Characterization of Fully Human Monoclonal Antibodies Against Human Orai1 for Autoimmune Disease
AID  - 10.1124/jpet.112.202788
DP  - 2013 May 01
TA  - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
PG  - 225--238
VI  - 345
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/345/2/225.short
4100  - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/345/2/225.full
SO  - J Pharmacol Exp Ther2013 May 01; 345
AB  - Calcium entry into T cells following antigen stimulation is crucial for nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT)–mediated T cell activation. The movement of calcium is mediated by calcium release–activated calcium (CRAC) channels. There are two key components of this channel: Orai1 is the pore-forming subunit located in the plasma membrane, and stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) functions as a Ca2+ sensor in the endoplasmic reticulum. A subset of human patients carry mutations in either STIM1 or Orai1 that affect protein function or expression, resulting in defective store-operated Ca2+ influx and CRAC channel function, and impaired T cell activation. These patients suffer from a hereditary form of severe combined immune deficiency syndrome, highlighting the importance of the CRAC channel for T lymphocyte function in humans. Since autoreactive T cells play an important role in the development of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and organ transplantation, Orai1 becomes an attractive therapeutic target for ameliorating autoimmune disease. We developed a novel approach to inhibiting CRAC function by generating high-affinity fully human monoclonal antibodies to human Orai1. These antibodies inhibited ICRAC current, store-operated Ca2+ influx, NFAT transcription, and cytokine release. These fully human antibodies to human Orai1 may represent a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of autoimmunity.