Anti-endothelial cell antibodies do not correlate with disease activity in systemic sclerosis

Postȩpy dermatologii i alergologii
Małgorzata Michalska-JakubusDorota Krasowska

Abstract

Anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA) recognize endothelial cell proteins and are thought to play an important role in vascular damage observed in systemic scleroderma (SSc) and many other autoimmune diseases. In SSc, AECA were found to be more common in patients with pulmonary hypertension, digital ulcers and nailfold capillaroscopic changes. Until now, there have been no studies examining the association between AECA positivity with the activity and duration of the disease. To evaluate associations between the presence of AECA in sera of patients with SSc and internal organs involvement as well as disease activity. Sera of 58 patients with SSc (50 with localized subtype and 8 with diffuse subtype) were examined for AECA presence using an indirect immunofluorescence technique. Several clinical and laboratory features were also evaluated as well as disease activity and disease duration. A significant association between positive AECA and a subtype of SSc (p = 0.021) was found, as well as between presence of digital ulcers and digital scars (p = 0.001), calcinosis (p = 0.02), acroosteolysis (p = 0.028) and a nearly significant association between AECA and lung fibrosis (p = 0.47). No association between disease duration, disea...Continue Reading

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
X-ray
ESR
electrophoresis

Software Mentioned

Statistica

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