Nuclear bodies

[3] Additionally, a nuclear body subtype is a clastosome suggested to be a site of protein degradation.

[6] Nuclear bodies were first seen as prominent interchromatin structures in the nuclei of malignant or hyperstimulated animal cells[7][8] identified using anti-sp100 autoantibodies from primary biliary cirrhosis and subsequently the promyelocytic leukemia (PML) factor, but appear also to be elevated in many autoimmune and cancerous diseases.

[15] The proteins can reorganize in the nucleus, by increasing number of dispersion in response to different stress (stimulation or heat shock, respectively).

For example, nuclear speckles, once thought to be storage depots of splicing factors, have been now shown to concentrate splicing-promoting factors (e.g., components of the major and minor spliceosome) and pre-mRNA substrate molecules to boost the kinetic efficiency of the splicing reaction.

These, or similar, bodies have been found increased in the presence of lymphoid cancers[25][26] and SLE (lupus).

[27] They are also observed at higher frequencies in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis; in this instance, antibodies to measles show expression in and localization to the nuclear bodies.

Nuclear bodies in human embryonic lung cells
Diagram of the formation of nuclear bodies.
Immunofluorescence staining pattern of sp100 antibodies. Nuclear dots can be seen in the nucleus of the cells. Produced using serum from a patient with primary biliary cirrhosis on HEp-20-10 cells with a FITC conjugate.