Novel antiphospholipid antibodies in autoimmune bullous diseases.

Background: Pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid are two autoimmune diseases that have similar pathogenesis. Both have a genetic predisposition, which promotes the production of auto antibodies targeted against different components of the epidermal desmosome and hemidesmosome. Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) are heterogeneous group of antibodies found in patients with autoimmune diseases and inflammatory conditions and are associated with thrombotic events.

Are immunoglobulin A anti-gliadin antibodies helpful in diagnosing coeliac disease in children younger than 2 years?

The usefulness of immumoglobulin (Ig) A antibodies to gliadin (AGA-IgA) in addition to IgA anti-endomysium and tissue transglutaminase antibodies was evaluated in 4122 children younger than 2 years with a suspicion of coeliac disease (CD). Eight percent (312/4122) displayed IgA anti-endomysium and/or IgA anti-tissue transglutaminase, whereas 2.1% (85/4122) displayed only AGA-IgA.

Autoimmune bullous diseases the spectrum of infectious agent antibodies and review of the literature.

Pemphigus and bullous pemphigoid are two autoimmune diseases that have a similar pathogenesis. Both have a genetic predisposition which promotes the production of auto-antibodies targeted against different components of the epidermal desmosome and hemidesmosome. Environmental factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of this autoimmune disease.

Is testing for antiphosphatidylethanolamine antibodies clinically useful?

One of the most intriguing characteristics of the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is that diagnosis requires the combined presence of clinical abnormalities (thrombosis and/or miscarriages) and at least one of the following antiphospholipid antibodies: lupus anticoagulant, anticardiolipin, or anti–β2-glycoprotein I. Clinicians occasionally have difficulty making this diagnosis in patients with a clinical picture of APS but without any of the previously mentioned antiphospholipid antibodies. Such a status has been defined as "seronegative APS.

ELISA for antiphosphatidylethanolamine antibody detection: high impact of assay buffer on results.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence on the results of the main variables of ELISA used for the detection of antiphosphatidylethanolamine antibodies (aPE). Forty sera from patients with either autoimmune disorders including antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) or the clinical features of APS only were assayed by ELISA performed under different conditions. Variables were sources of PE (egg yolk, soybean, bovine brain or Escherichiacoli), microtiter plates (plain or gamma irradiated) and buffer components-fetal calf serum (FCS), adult bovine plasma (ABP), adult bovine serum (ABS) or bovine serum albumin (BSA).

Low prevalence of anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies in a French scleroderma population: anti-RNA polymerase III scleroderma.

Background: Anti-RNA polymerase III antibodies (anti-RNAP III) have been reported as potential immune markers of Systemic Sclerosis (SSc). Until now, their clinical use was disregarded because of technical difficulties to perform immunoprecipitation. Recently, ELISA kits became commercially available allowing an easy detection of anti-RNAP III.

Prevalence of hepatitis C serum antibody in autoimmune diseases.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of serum antibodies against hepatitis C virus and other infectious agents in a large cohort of well-characterized patients with autoimmune diseases (AID).

Methods: We utilized 1322 sera from patients with 18 different AID and 236 sera from healthy controls from the same countries and with similar age and sex distribution. All sera were tested for the presence of serum anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies as well as antibodies directed at other infectious agents and autoantibodies.

Clinical significance of antiphosphatidylethanolamine antibodies in the so-called "seronegative antiphospholipid syndrome".

The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is characterized by thrombosis and/or pregnancy morbidity associated with the presence of laboratory criteria such as antibodies directed towards cardiolipin or beta(2)-GPI and lupus anticoagulant. Recently, the term "seronegative APS " has been proposed to define patients with the typical clinical manifestations but with negative serologies. One explanation for such a context could be that some APS patients may only have antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) other than the admitted laboratory criteria.

BioPlex 2200 multiplexed system: simultaneous detection of anti-dsDNA and anti-chromatin antibodies in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background: Antibodies for double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) and chromatin represent specific markers of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Aims: (1) To evaluate the analytical performance of a multiplexed bead assay (BioPlex 2200) for the simultaneous detection of anti-dsDNA and anti-chromatin antibodies, (2) to compare the results for anti-dsDNA with those obtained using Farr assay, and (3) to analyze the clinical relevance of these antibodies when applied to the follow-up of SLE patients with active nephritis.

Patients And Methods: Hundred and five clinically characterized SLE patients and 96 healthy blood donors sera were analyzed by BioPlex 2200.

Prevalence of autoantibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptide in patients with rheumatic diseases other than rheumatoid arthritis: a French multicenter study.

Our objective was to evaluate the prevalence of autoantibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptides (anti-CCP aAbs) in a cohort of patients with a variety of inflammatory or non-inflammatory rheumatic diseases other than rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Six hundred and nine serum samples were tested for anti-CCP aAbs and for rheumatoid factor (RF) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and immunonephelometry. The prevalence of anti-CCP aAbs and RF reached 10% and 25%, respectively, using the positive cutoff value suggested by the manufacturers.

Clinical evaluation of a new quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of double-stranded DNA autoantibodies.

The measurement of autoantibodies specific for double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) is a useful tool for the diagnosis and the prognosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). A new quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), ORG anti-dsDNA, is recently available for the determination of anti-dsDNA antibodies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical performance of this new assay in a cohort of SLE patients.

Evaluation of the BioPlex 2200 ANA screen for the detection of antinuclear antibodies and comparison with conventional methods.

BioPlex 2200 multiplexed assays system is an automatic method allowing detection of antinuclear antibodies (ANA). The aim of our study was to evaluate the determination of 13 autoantibodies against chromatinic and nonchromatinic nuclear antigens by the BioPlex 2200 system and to compare the results achieved by this method to those obtained with our routinely used immunoassays. One thousand and four serum samples consecutively sent for ANA detection were routinely tested by indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) on HEp2 cells.

Does the anti-prothrombin antibodies measurement provide additional information in patients with thrombosis?

The aim of this study is to get new insight into the relevance of IgG anti-prothrombin antibodies in patients with thrombosis and to determine whether human prothrombin alone (aPT) or complexed to phosphatidylserine (aPS/PT) should be preferentially used for measuring these antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). To this end, prevalence of anti-prothrombin antibodies, their characteristics in terms of avidity and heterogeneity, and their relationship with anti-beta2 glycoprotein I antibodies (abeta2GPI) were studied in 152 patients with thrombosis. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL), called aPL+ or aPL-, respectively.

Antiphosphatidylethanolamine antibodies are associated with an increased odds ratio for thrombosis. A multicenter study with the participation of the European Forum on antiphospholipid antibodies.

A multicenter study was set up to evaluate the prevalence, clinical and biological significance of antiphosphatidylethanolamine antibodies (aPE) in thrombotic patients with or without the main known clinical and biological risk factors for thrombosis. APE and antibodies, defined as the laboratory criteria of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) -lupus anticoagulant, anticardiolipin and anti-beta(2)-GPI antibodies were measured in 270 patients with thrombosis (234 venous and 37 arterial) and 236 matched controls. APE were found in 15% of thrombotic patients compared to 3% of controls (p < 0.

Variability of anti-beta2 glycoprotein I antibodies measurement by commercial assays.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the agreement in assay results between commercial kits for the measurement of anti-beta2glycoprotein I antibodies. Ten manufacturers provided one IgG and one IgM kit to three testing centres. Samples from patients with primary (n = 13) or secondary (n = 3) antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), from lupus patients without APS features (n = 6) and from normal individuals (n = 2) were tested in the three centres according to manufacturers' instructions.

Heterogeneity of anti-beta2-glycoprotein I antibodies. A factor of variability in test results.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the heterogeneity of IgGanti-beta2-glycoprotein I antibodies (IgG-abeta2GPI) as regarding their reactivity pattern against different sources of human beta2 GPI, their avidity and their association with clinical events of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). Three thousand six hundred and eighty-four consecutive patient sera were routinely tested for IgGabeta2 GPI over 1 year using an in-house ELISA with 2 different commercial preparations of human purified beta2GPI. Of the 340 sera found positive, all those clinically documented were included in this study; 61 were positive with only one preparation (S1) and 59 with both (S2).

Minimal requirements for antiphospholipid antibodies ELISAs proposed by the European Forum on antiphospholipid antibodies.

Antiphospholipid ELISAs are part of the Antiphospholipid Antibodies Syndrome classification criteria, having the same diagnostic value as lupus anticoagulant. However, sometimes their results appear scarcely meaningful especially when wide metanalyses studies are performed, probably because of their well-known inter-laboratory variability. The application of a common protocol was shown to improve the test reproducibility, but this observation did not have any influence on the routine performances.

Combined search for anti-beta2-glycoprotein I and anticardiolipin antibodies in antiphospholipid syndrome: contribution to diagnosis.

In this study we sought to assess (1) the diagnostic value of a combined search for anti-beta(2)-glycoprotein (abeta(2)-GPIs) and anticardiolipin antibodies (aCLs) in primary (APS I) and secondary (APS II) antiphospholipid syndrome and (2) the influence of the beta(2)-GPI preparation in the ELISA's results. abeta(2)-GPI and aCL concentrations were assessed in 70 patients with APS and compared with those in 65 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) without clinical features of APS. In APS patients (38 with APS I, 32 with APS II), the diagnosis had to have been made at least 3 years earlier; in subjects with SLE, the diagnosis had to have been made at least 5 years earlier.

Features associated with epilepsy in the antiphospholipid syndrome.

Objective: To assess the frequency of epilepsy in primary and secondary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS); to analyze the clinical and laboratory features characterizing those with epilepsy in a cohort of 538 patients with APS; and to find associated features that would suggest risk factors for epilepsy in APS.

Methods: We analyzed the clinical features of patients with APS who had epilepsy and compared them to the clinical features of non-epileptic APS patients.

Results: Of 538 APS patients, 46 (8.

Endothelial microparticles: a potential contribution to the thrombotic complications of the antiphospholipid syndrome.

The antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) refers to persistent anti-phospholipid antibodies (aPL) associated with thrombotic and/or obstetrical complications. The endothelial cell is a target of aPL which can induce a procoagulant and proinflammatory endothelial phenotype, as reported both in vivo and in vitro. Microparticle production is a hallmark of cell activation.

Type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients display different patterns of cellular microparticles.

The development of vasculopathies in diabetes involves multifactorial processes including pathological activation of vascular cells. Release of microparticles by activated cells has been reported in diseases associated with thrombotic risk, but few data are available in diabetes. The aim of the present work was to explore the number and the procoagulant activity of cell-derived microparticles in type 1 and 2 diabetic patients.

Inter-laboratory variability of anti-beta2-glycoprotein I measurement. A collaborative study in the frame of the European Forum on Antiphospholipid Antibodies Standardization Group.

Inter-laboratory variability of anti-beta2-glycoprotein I antibody measurements (IgG and IgM) was investigated in the frame of the European Forum on Antiphospholipid Antibodies and its Standardization Group. Twenty-eight samples from patients with autoimmune diseases, two samples from blood donors and a set of six calibrators obtained by dilution with normal plasma of a pool of patient samples were sent to 21 European centers. Six of them used commercial kits and the others home-made assays.