Serum antibodies from halothane hepatitis patients react with the rat endoplasmic reticulum protein ERp72.

Immunoblotting studies have previously shown that serum antibodies from halothane hepatitis patients react with several liver microsomal proteins that have been modified by the trifluoroacetyl halide metabolite of halothane. In this study, an 80-kDa protein recognized by the patients' antibodies has been purified from rat liver microsomes and characterized. When the purified trifluoroacetylated 80-kDa and native 80-kDa proteins were employed as test antigens in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, serum antibodies from halothane hepatitis patients reacted with both of these proteins to a significantly greater extent than did serum antibodies from control patients