Binding profiles of anticardiolipin antibodies in sera from patients with SLE and infectious diseases.

Inhibition experiments were performed to study the specificity of IgG-class antibody, binding to cardiolipin immobilized onto a polystyrene surface, in sera from patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or infection. Six different phospholipids (three anionic: cardiolipin, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidic acid, and three neutral: phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and platelet activating factor), lipopolysaccharide from Salmonella Minnesota (ReLPS), strain Re595 and lipoteichoic acid from Streptococcus pyogenes were used as inhibitors, in the form of liposomes. Eight of fifteen SLE sera exhibited strong reactivity to phosphatidylserine liposomes; other anionic phospholipids, cardiolipin and phosphatidic acid, were less effective inhibitors. The binding was inhibited effectively only by cardiolipin in three of the SLE sera, and by none of the anionic phospholipids tested in the remaining four SLE sera. In most sera from patients with bacterial infections (including syphilis), anti-cardiolipin antibodies (ACA) were inhibited only by cardiolipin, but in some cases also by phosphatidic acid. In Gram-negative infections, ACA were inhibited by ReLPS more effectively than by cardiolipin. ReLPS also inhibited ACA in two of five chlamydial sera. Appreciable inhibition of ACA by phosphatidylserine did not occur in infections. Thus, in contrast to previous studies, broad reactivity to anionic phospholipids occurred in only about half of SLE sera. This pattern of polyreactivity was not seen in infections.