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Objectives To investigate serum levels of B cell activating factor(BAFF)in Chinese patients with polymyositis(PM)or dermatomyositis(DM),and analyze the correlation of BAFF with autoantibodies and clinical phenotypes.Methods Serum BAFF levels of 28 PM patients and 30 DM patients(study group),and 25 matched healthy controls(control group)were measured by ELISA.Serum anti-Jo-1 antibody levels were also measured by ELISA in all the subjects.The results of the two groups were compared by unpaired t test and the relevance was analyzed by Pearson's correlation analysis.Results Serum levels of BAFF in PM/DM patients were significantly higher compared to healthy controls(P =0.000),but there was no statistically significant difference between the PM and DM patients(P ＞ 0.05).Patients with interstitial lung disease(ILD)had significantly higher serum BAFF level than the patients without ILD(P =0.000)or the controls(P =0.000).Serum BAFF levels of patients with positive antinuclear antibody(ANA)were significantly higher than those with negative ANA(P =0.003).For patients with anti-Jo-1 antibodies,the serum BAFF levels were correlated with the serum concentration of anti-Jo-1 antibodies(r =0.799,P =0.006).Conclusions Serum levels of BAFF are increased in Chinese PM/DM patients.These findings indicate that BAFF may be possibly enrolled in the pathogenesis of PM/DM.Detecting serum BAFF levels could have some implication for the diagnosis and treatment of PM/DM.
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Objective To explore the correlation of anticardiolipin antibody (ACL) and lupus nephritis (LN) glomerular microthrombi (GMT) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and to analyze their clinical manifestations and renal pathological characteristics.Methods The clinical data of 126 LN patients treated at our hospital between January 2005 and October 2010 were retrospectively reviewed.The factors,including age,gender,the clinical manifestations in and outside of kidney were evaluated by multivariate Logistic regression analysis.Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to test the serum levels of ACL in all patients.Statistical analysis was conducted using x2 test and Logistic regression.Results ① All 126 patients were investigated.Thirty-eight LN patients had GMT.When compared with the LN-non-GMT group,the SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI),urinary protein quantity (24 h),serum creatinine,serum urea nitrogen,anti-dsDNA antibody (+),the incidence of severe hypertension,anemia,thrombocytopenia,arthritis were higher in the LN-GMT group (P＜0.01).Logistic regression analysis showed that SLEDAI (OR=2.486,95％CI 1.678-3.684,P=0.000),anemia (OR=4.628,95％CI 1.045～20.496,P=0.044) were correlated with GMT; ② The pathologic results of renal biopsy showed that GMT had an incidence of 30.2％ (n=38) in LN.As compared with the LN-non-GMT group,Wilcoxon test showed that the LN-GMT group suffered more severe greater renal pathological injuries (P=0.012).The pathological types of LN-non-GMT and LN-GMT groups were as follows:type Ⅳ (38％ vs 76％) and type Ⅲ (31％ vs 8％); ③ The positive rate of ACL was higher in the LN-GMT group than that in the LN-non-GMT group (n=23,61％ vs n=15,36％).The differences were statistically significant (P=0.018).Conclusion GMT is not rare in LN.SLEDAI,anemia and positive ACL are correlated with GMT,LN patients with concurrent GMT have more severe renal pathological changes.
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Objective To investigate the quality of autoantibody testing around the whole country.Methods Laboratories that perform autoantibody testing were recruited by letters or telephone communications.The auto-antibodies examined by the quality-control survey included anti-nuclear antibody (ANA),anti-double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) antibody,anti-extractable nuclear antigens (anti-ENA),antimitochondria antibody (AMA),anti-smooth muscle antibody (ASMA),and anti-citrulline antibody (CCP).Each autoantibody was tested for 3 samples,so 15 samples were tested in total.Sample distribution and data analysis were double-blinded.Qualitative interpretation,staining patterns were evaluated by IIF.The agreement with qualitative interpretation for each specimen was evaluated by ELISA,and Immuno-Blot/Dot-Blot.Results One hundred and eight laboratories participated in this study.The testing methods included indirect immumofluorescence (IIF),immuno-Blot (IB),Dot-Blot (DB),double diffusion method (DID),enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA),chemo-illuminescent assay,Dot-immunogold filtration assay.The accuracy rates were 82％,83％,95％,96％,86％,respectively for ANA,anti-dsDNA,AMA,ASMA,and anti-CCP antibody.Anti-ENA were further divided into anti-SNP,anti-Sm,anti-SSA,anti-SSB,anti-Scl-70 subgroups,and the accuracy rates were 84％,95％,98％,98％,88％,respectively.The distribution of quantitative values by different laboratories for ANA (by IIF),anti-dsDNA,anti-CCP antibody (by ELISA) varied remarkably.Conclusion Hospitals that enrolled in the survey and the items involved for quality control were increasing year by year.The accurate rates of ANA,anti-dsDNA in this survey were similar to the past national quality control surveys,the quality of AMA/ASMA,anti-CCP antibodies test was better than that of the past surveys,but the quality of anti-ENA antibodies test needs to be improved.
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Objective To study the diagnostic value of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein for early cartilage destruction in osteoarthritis and assess its value in the prediction of the disease progression.Methods The osteoarthritis animal models were developed by immobilizing the right knees of 18 rabbits in full extension position using plaster East.Knee joint pathological changes at week 2 and 6 were examined for pathological severity evaluation of osteoarthritis.ELISA sandwich method was used to measure the levels of cartilage oligomeric matrix protein(COMP) in serum before and after modeling(at week 2 and 6 respectively) and immunohistolgy method was used to examine the levels of COMP in knee articular cartilage of osteoarthritis animal models.Correlation analysis was performed to demonstrate the relationship between the levels of COMP in the serum and the pathological severity of osteoarthritis.Pearson's test and t-test were used for correlation analysis.Results ①) Osteoarthritis animal models could be successfully developed by immobilizing the right knees of rabbits in full extension position using plaster east for 2 weeks.Early histopathological changes in the articular cartilage could be observed,At week 6,the typical histopathological characteristics could be seen.②With the extension of modeling time,serum COMP levels persistently increased.The serum COMP levels before modeling,at modeling week 2,week 6 were (3.35±0.20),(3.64±0.18),(3.96±0.44) μg/L respectively,the difference was significant (P＜0.05).③ The level of COMP in the articular cartilage of non-osteoarthritis animal models,models at week 2,week 6 were (2.7±1.8 )％ ,(5.7±0.7)％,(7.6±0.7)％ respectively (P＜0.05 for all).④ The level of COMP in the serum was linearily correlated with the pathological severity of osteoarthritis(r＞0.770 for all,and P＜0.05 for all).Conclusion Levels of COMP in the serum can help to make early diagnosis of osteoarthritis,and elevated COMP level can predict the progression of osteoarthritis.
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Objectiye To study the levels of cartilage oligomeric matrixprotein (COMP) and matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) in the serum fluid of osteoarthritic rabbit models and their relationships with the severity of pathological changes, so as to investigate their correlation with osteoarthritis(OA). Methods The osteoarthritic animal models were get from immobilizing the right knees of 18 rabbits in full extension using plaster cast. Knee joint pathological changes of 2,6 weeks were examined for pathological severity of OA; ELISA sandwich method was used to measure the levels of COMP and MMP-3 in serum before and after modeling( at 2, 6 weeks respectively); X ray of model keens was also obtained in different period.Correlation analysis was performed to demonstrate the relationship between the levels of COMP, MMP-3 in the serum and the pathological severity of OA. Results ( 1 ) Morphological observations: immobilizing the right knees of rabbits in full extension using plaster cast was a reliable methed for osteoarthritic animal models and the typical histopathologic character was seen; the severity of osteoarthritisgradually increased with time extended. (2) The levels of COMP[(3.64 ±0. 18)μg/L], MMP-3 [(1.99 ±0. 81 ) μg/L]in the serum of 2 weeks osteoarthritic animal models were higher than those before immobilizing with plaster cast [COMP(3.35 ±0. 20) μg/L,MMP-3( 1.61 ±0. 71 ) μg/L]. The levels of COMP[(3.96 ±0. 44) μg/L],MMP-3[(3.44 ±0. 91) μg/L] of 6 weeks were much higher,with a significant difference(P ＜0.05). The levels of COMP, MMP-3 in serum had a linear correlation with the pathological severity of OA (r ＞0. 710,and P ＜ 0. 05 ). Conclusion The levels of COMP and MMP-3 in serum can help to predict and evaluate the progression of OA.
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Objective To explore the value of serum SC5b-9, anti-C1q antibody, C3 and C4 levels in the assessment of lupus activity. Methods The enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure SC5b-9 and anti-C1q antibody, rate nepheiometry was used to detect the serum level of C3 and C4 in sera of 62 SLE patients, 35 patients with other rheumatic diseases (including rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, primary Sjogren' s syndrome, mixed connective tissue disease, dermatomyositis, polymyositis, systemic sclerosis and vasculitis) and 35 healthy controls. And the correlation between above-mentioned parameters and lupus clinical manifestations, disease activity and histological type of lupus nephritis were analyzed. Results In SLE patients, the levels of SC5b-9 and anti-C1q antibody were significantly higher than those in patients with other rheumatic diseases and healthy controls (P<0.05). The titers of SC5b-9 and anti-C1q antibody negatively correlated with C3 and C4 (P<0.05), and positively correlated with SLEDAI (P<0.05). The sensitivity and specificity of the combination of these three measurements for SLE was 95.37% and 98.46 respectively. SC5b-9 and anti-C1q antibody were associated with the presence of proliferative glomerulonephritis (P <0.05). Conclusion Taking the evaluation of all these three measurements simultaneously is valuable for the diagnosis of lupus flare. SC5b-9 and anti-C1q antibody may play major roles in the immunopathogenesis of lupus nephritis.
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Objective The experimental condition of PEG precipitation pre-treatment method associated with electrochemiluminescence was optimized to gain a coincident result compared with gel chromatography method.Methods A fixed centrifuge time,optimized centrifuge speed,temperature and iron intensity were used to achieve a best experimental condition.Results The detection concentration of micromolecular PRL was approximate to gel chromatography method under the experimental condition of being centrifuged 10 minutes at 18℃ and pretreated with 25%PEG 6000 1M PBS.Conclusions The optimized PEG precipitation test united with the electrochemillumescence immunoassy was a good method for screening macroprolactinemia in clinical diagnosis.