Anticuerpos anticélulas endoteliales en enfermedades sistémicas / Anti-endothelial cell autoantibodies in systemic diseases

ABSTRACT

Anti-endothelial cell autoantibodies (AECA), first described more then 30 years ago, represent a heterogeneous group of autoantibodies directed against poorly characterized antigens located in endothelial cell membranes, and have been reported in a variety of sistemic diseases. Although most of the target antigens for AECA are still not well identified, and AECA have been considered an epiphenomenon of vascular injury, new evidence suggests a pathogenic role, specially by inducing endothelial cell activation and apoptosis. The presence of AECA has been correlated with disease activity in SLE and systemic vasculitis such as Wegener's granulomatosis, Takayasu arteritis, and behçet's disease, and they could be valuable markers of disease activity. Other potential areas of clinical interest in diseases associated to AECA could be the serum thrombomodulin level, as marker of endothelial cell injury in neuropsychiatric lupus, and other vasculitides; and the determination of anti-heat shock protein antibodies including the Hsp60, as a new, non traditional risk factor for atherosclerosis in patient with lupus.