Subject(s)
Antibodies, Anticardiolipin/blood , Autoantibodies/blood , Glycoproteins/immunology , Immunoglobulin A/blood , Paraproteinemias/immunology , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Electrophoresis/methods , False Positive Reactions , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , beta 2-Glycoprotein IABSTRACT
IgG anti-Golgi complex antibodies were detected by means of indirect immunofluorescence in the sera of five patients during routine investigation for suspected systemic autoimmune disease. The typical picture of paranuclear fluorescence was observed on the HEp-2 cell line and in tissue sections; anti-Golgi specificity was confirmed on the HEp-2 cells using the immunoperoxidase method. The phenomenon was transient in three patients with a probable viral infection and whose sera had low titre antibodies; however, it was persistent and in high concentration in the other two who, five years later, developed an autoimmune disease. Only in the sera of these last two patients were specific bands of 123, 72, 46, 37 and 26 kilodaltons found by the immunoblotting technique on cytoplasmic extracts. Although the detection of anti-Golgi autoantibodies is rare, and may represent a transitory epiphenomenon in patients with a viral infection, their presence in high titre in the absence of a clear clinical picture may constitute an early sign of systemic autoimmune disease.
Subject(s)
Autoantibodies/analysis , Autoimmune Diseases/immunology , Golgi Apparatus/immunology , Immunoglobulin G/immunology , Adult , Aged , Autoimmune Diseases/pathology , Biomarkers/analysis , Cells, Cultured , Female , Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Sensitivity and SpecificitySubject(s)
Arthritis/metabolism , Interleukin-1/metabolism , Plasminogen Inactivators/metabolism , Synovial Fluid/metabolism , Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator/metabolism , Adult , Aged , Arthritis, Psoriatic/metabolism , Arthritis, Rheumatoid/metabolism , Cell Count , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Osteoarthritis/metabolism , Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1/metabolism , Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 2/metabolismABSTRACT
High levels of many cytokines, including interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6 and IL-8, were found in various arthropathies suggesting that they play a role in the pathogenesis of disease, although their relationship with the type and activity of disease is still not clear. The synovial fluid (SF) of 24 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 19 with psoriatic arthritis (PA) and 33 with osteoarthritis (OA) was analyzed for IL-1 beta, IL-6 and IL-8. The highest concentration of the three cytokines was found in the SF of RA. IL-beta detectable levels (> or = 20 pg/ml) were observed in 8/24 (33.3%) patients with RA, in one patient with PA but in no patient with OA. IL-6 (mean +/- SD) (1610.37 +/- 1781.65 pg/ml) was higher in RA than in PA (672.47 +/- 867.40 pg/ml, p = 0.043) and OA (89.45 +/- 120.52 pg/ml, p = 0.0001). IL-8 (1042.72 +/- 698.64 pg/ml) was higher in RA than in PA (660.36 +/- 625.11 pg/ml, p = 0.03) and OA (89.9 +/- 45.88 pg/ml, p = 0.0001). A correlation between IL-1 beta, IL-6 and IL-8 was found in RA. In all patients a correlation between IL-6 and IL-8 levels was found; moreover, these two cytokines were associated with SF indices of inflammation, such as white blood cells (WBC) count and total protein (TP) concentration. Our findings suggest that these interrelationships play a role in the evolution of more severe erosive arthropathy such as RA.
