We assessed the major lymphocyte subsets in the peripheral blood, thyroid ultrasonography, levels of serum autoantibodies to thyroglobulin (AbTg), thyroid hormones, and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in 53 children without any chronic diseases living continuously around Chernobyl. The subjects ranged in age from 7 to 14 years and had different doses of 131I to their thyroid. Healthy children living on noncontaminated areas were assessed as controls. The majority of children with doses of 131I had normal levels of thyroid hormones. However, the percentages of positive sera for AbTg, TSH levels, ultrasonographic thyroid abnormalities, and abnormal echogenicity were significantly higher in children with doses of 131I than in controls. The dose of 131I to thyroid correlated positively with serum AbTg levels, percentage of CD3+CD4+ cells, and CD3+CD4+/CD3+CD8+ cell ratio and negatively with number of CD3+CD8+ and CD3-/CD16, CD56+ cells. Thus, our study demonstrates an association between dose of 131I and autoimmune thyroid disorders in this population of children.
BACKGROUND: Type-2 autoimmune hepatitis is a subgroup of chronic hepatitis characterized by the presence of liver/kidney microsomal autoantibodies type 1 (LKM-1). A frequent association with chronic hepatitis C suggests that hepatitis virus might trigger autoimmune reactivity. LKM-1-positive chronic hepatitis is not uncommon in southern Europe but is rarely seen in the USA and the UK. The prevalence in Scandinavia is hitherto unknown. METHODS: We used an automated prototype LKM-1 immunometry-based assay (IMx) to detect LKM-1 antibodies in sera from 350 Swedish patients with chronic liver diseases (100 with primary biliary cirrhosis, 80 with primary sclerosing cholangitis, 100 with hepatitis C, and 70 patients with various forms of chronic hepatitis, including 36 autoimmune cases), and from 17 children with autoimmune hepatitis. Sera reactive in the IMx assay were subjected to immunofluorescence testing. RESULTS: No clearly LKM-reactive sera were detected. Serum samples from 29 patients were borderline reactive in the IMx assay but tested negative in the confirmatory immunofluorescence test. Positive tests in the former assay were likely caused by reactivity against microsomal antigens other than LKM-1/cytochrome P450IID6. CONCLUSIONS: LKM-1-positive type-2 autoimmune hepatitis is very rare in Sweden. Furthermore, chronic hepatitis C did not trigger this type of autoimmune reactivity in our patients, probably owing to genetic insusceptibility.
Myasthenia gravis (MG) may be associated with the presence of acetylcholine receptor antibodies (AChRAb) [seropositive MG (SPMG)] or their absence [seronegative MG (SNMG)]. Along with features of MG, the presence of the AChRAb may relate to the existence of other immune-mediated diseases. We sought to determine the association of SPMG with other potential autoimmune diseases.
A retrospective evaluation of prospectively identified MG patients at a tertiary care center was performed, with patients separated into SPMG and SNMG. Prevalence of other immune-mediated disorders, as well as the epidemiology, sensitivity of diagnostic testing, and thymic pathology, was contrasted between both patient groups.
Of the 109 MG patients identified, 66% were SPMG. SPMG was associated with a greater likelihood of significant repetitive stimulation decrement, the presence of either thymoma or thymic hyperplasia, and the presence of thyroid disease. In addition, all patients with a diagnosis of diabetes, concurrent with MG, were found to be SPMG.
AChRAb and SPMG impart not only a distinctive clinical and electrophysiological phenotype of MG, but are also associated with the heightened presence of endocrinological disease.
BACKGROUND: Despite its unsatisfactory specificity, rheumatoid factor (RF) is the only serologic marker included in the diagnostic criteria of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) for rheumatoid arthritis. Recently, the diagnostic value of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibodies has been emphasized in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) due to its high specificity. To evaluate the second generation of anti-CCP antibodies as a diagnostic marker, we evaluated anti-CCP test in 163 individuals. METHODS: The study population was divided into the following four groups: RA group (n=18), other disease group with arthritic symptoms (n=44), other disease group without arthritic symptoms (n=45), and healthy group (n=56). Anti-CCP was measured by an ELISA analyzer (Coda, Bio-Rad, USA) with Immunoscan RA (Euro-Diagnostica, Malmo, Sweden) and RF was measured by an automated chemistry analyzer (Toshiba, Japan) with RF-LATEX X1 (Denka Seiken, Japan). RESULTS: The sensitivity of anti-CCP and RF was 72.2% and 100%, respectively, and the respective figures for the specificity were 96.6% and 73%. On each ROC curve, the area under the curve was 0.867 for anti-CCP and 0.959 for RF. In other disease groups, most of the false positive cases of RF were found in the patients with hyperlipidemia or HBV carriage. However, anti-CCP was not detected in any of the patients with these two conditions. False positive rates of RF in the three control groups were 34.1% in other disease group with arthritic symptoms, 48.9% in the other disease group without arthritic symptoms, and 3.6% in healthy group. The respective figures for anti-CCP were 6.8%, 2.2%, and 1.8%. CONCLUSIONS: The specificity of anti-CCP antibodies was higher than that of RF for discriminating RA from other diseases, especially in the patients with hyperlipidemia or HBV carriage. With its high specificity, anti-CCP antibodies can play an additive role in establishing the diagnosis of RA in patients with RF positivity.
[A comparative study of the immunological (antimicrosomal antibodies) and cytogenetic indices of children living in radioactively contaminated areas of Bryansk Province]
The chromosome dicentric aberrations in the lymphocytes and levels of antibodies to human thyroid microsomal antigen in the serum of the children lived in the area of Bryansk Province suffered from the Chernobyl accident was examined. Correlation between those tests was not estimated: the autoantibodies were revealed in group with dicentrics and without those in 4.0% and 4.5% of cases correspondingly. Antimicrosomal antibodies were revealed more frequently (5.0%) and in higher titers in the children from the more polluted Bryansk Province than in those from Kaluga Province (3.1%). These data can testify about the role of inside radiation of thyroid gland in appearance of autoimmune thyroiditis signs.
A/H1N1 antibodies and TRIB2 autoantibodies in narcolepsy patients diagnosed in conjunction with the Pandemrix vaccination campaign in Sweden 2009-2010.
Narcolepsy is a lifelong sleep disorder related to hypocretin deficiency resulting from a specific loss of hypocretin-producing neurons in the lateral hypothalamic area. The disease is thought to be autoimmune due to a strong association with HLA-DQB1*06:02. In 2009 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the H1N1 2009 flu pandemic (A/H1N1PDM09). In response to this, the Swedish vaccination campaign began in October of the same year, using the influenza vaccine Pandemrix(?). A few months later an excess of narcolepsy cases was observed. It is still unclear to what extent the vaccination campaign affected humoral autoimmunity associated with narcolepsy. We studied 47 patients with narcolepsy (6-69 years of age) and 80 healthy controls (3-61 years of age) selected after the Pandemrix vaccination campaign. The first aim was to determine antibodies against A/H1N1 and autoantibodies to Tribbles homolog 2 (TRIB2), a narcolepsy autoantigen candidate as well as to GAD65 and IA-2 as disease specificity controls. The second aim was to test if levels and frequencies of these antibodies and autoantibodies were associated with HLA-DQB1*06:02. In?vitro transcribed and translated [(35)S]-methionine and -cysteine-labeled influenza A virus (A/California/04/2009/(H1N1)) segment 4 hemagglutinin was used to detect antibodies in a radiobinding assay. Autoantibodies to TRIB2, GAD65 and IA-2 were similarly detected in standard radiobinding assays. The narcolepsy patients had higher median levels of A/H1N1 antibodies than the controls (p?=?0.006). A/H1N1 antibody levels were higher among the
OBJECTIVES: To determine the association between risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and alcohol consumption in combination with smoking and HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (SE). METHODS: Data from two independent case-control studies of RA, the Swedish EIRA (1204 cases and 871 controls) and the Danish CACORA (444 cases and 533 controls), were used to estimate ORs of developing RA for different amounts of alcohol consumed. RESULTS: Alcohol consumption was significantly more common in controls (p
Department of Anatomy, Institute of Biomedicine and The Turku Graduate School of Clinical Sciences, University of Turku, Kiinamyllynkatu 10, FIN-20520 Turku, Finland. esolve@utu.fi
Source
Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2003 Dec 10;111(2):173-8
To analyse the factors predisposing to male immunological infertility from the hospital records of 508 patients that had been treated for infertility in the Turku University Central Hospital from 1980 to 2000. In addition, the hormonal status was investigated at the beginning of treatment.
Patients with a history of mumps, or either a fresh varicocele or a history of varicocele had statistically significant lower levels of MAR antisperm antibodies (ASAs) than patients with no such conditions. Repair of varicocele (either surgical or embolisation), showed a statistically significant enhancement of the total sperm cell counts in ejaculates, but it appeared not to have any influence on other parameters of the semen analysis (mobility and morphology). Of all male infertility patients, 66.3% had normal hormonal status at the beginning of treatment, 12.6% of patients had hypotestosteronemia and 22.1% had subclinical hypogonadism. Patients with subclinical hypogonadism had lower total sperm cell count in ejaculates than patients with normal hormonal status although they had statistically significant more offspring. In addition, it appeared that mumps orchitis as well as smoking and alcohol abuse are risk factors for subclinical hypogonadism.
No clear predisposing factor for male immunological infertility could be found. However, patients with subclinical hypogonadism differed from other male infertility patients and thus may form a special group among the male infertility patients.
An evaluation of autoimmune antibody testing patterns in a Canadian health region and an evaluation of a laboratory algorithm aimed at reducing unnecessary testing.
Autoantibody tests are often ordered inappropriately. We aimed to evaluate the ordering patterns of these tests in our local health region and to develop a laboratory algorithm aimed at reducing unnecessary tests. Laboratory data including the number and sequence of tests, ordering physician specialties and results for antinuclear (ANA), extractable nuclear antigen (ENA) and anti-double stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) antibody tests from 2007 to 2009 were evaluated. Based on this information and a clinical consensus meeting, an algorithm was developed and applied retrospectively to 1 year of inpatient laboratory data to simulate potential cost savings. We identified a large volume of these autoantibody tests performed, equating to testing costs of $862,706.72, where less than 17 % of each were positive. Repeated ANA tests were mostly ordered after a previously negative result, and 1 % of patients with negative results changed to =1:160 on repeat testing. Close to half of all ENA and anti-dsDNA tests that were ordered were done so simultaneously with ANA, suggesting their use as screening tests. This was done more frequently in the inpatient setting. An algorithm was developed where ENA and anti-dsDNA tests would be cancelled if ANA was negative in the same sample. ANA repeated within 1 year would be cancelled and the prior result provided. Application of the algorithm retrospectively simulated a 30 % cost savings. Repeat testing and simultaneous ordering of multiple tests contributed to the excessive ordering of autoantibody tests in our health region. Our proposed algorithm would reduce testing costs and should be accompanied by appropriate educational information for physicians.
RANK ligand (RANKL) is involved in destruction and osteoporosis in RA. In this study, the relationships between RANKL and ACPA, anti-carbamylated protein antibodies (anti-CarP), cytokines and chemokines were analysed in individuals before the onset of RA symptoms, and their associations with radiological findings at disease onset were assessed.
This was a case-control study performed within the Medical Biobank of Northern Sweden that included 470 pre-symptomatic individuals [334 women and 136 men; mean (s.d.) age 52.3 (9.4) years] using blood samples donated before symptom onset (pre-dating time; 5.0 years) and 96 controls (60 women and 36 men). Plasma was analysed for RANKL (BioVendor, Karasek, Brno, Czech Republic), anti-CCP2 antibodies (Eurodiagnostics, Malmö, Sweden), anti-CarP antibodies (in-house ELISA), ACPA specificities (ISAC-platform, Phadia AB, Uppsala, Sweden) and cytokines/chemokines (Meso Scale Discovery methods, Rockville, MD, USA). Radiographs of hands and feet were graded using the Larsen score.
The concentration of RANKL was higher in the pre-symptomatic individuals compared with controls; mean (s.e.m.): 0.50 (0.03) vs 0.22 (0.02) nmol/l (P
