Anticardiolipin antibodies in patients with rheumatic diseases

✍ Scribed by John G. Fort; F. Susan Cowchock; John L. Abruzzo; J. Bruce Smith

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 778 KB
• Volume: 30
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780300705

✦ Synopsis

Recent attention has focused on the presence of anticardiolipin (ACL) antibodies and their possible role in recurrent thrombosis and abortions in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. We analyzed ACL antibodies in 243 consecutive patients to determine their frequency in patients with different rheumatic disorders. A significantly elevated frequency was found in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (38%), rheumatoid arthritis (33 %), and psoriatic arthritis (28%). No correlation could be found between ACL antibody levels and recurrent thrombosis. In patients with rheumatoid arthritis there was a significant correlation between ACL antibodies and a history of repeated abortions. No significant association was found between ACI, antibodies and other autoantibodies except in patients with rheumatoid arthritis; ACL antibody-positive rheumatoid arthritis patients were much more likely to be antinuclear antibody-positive (P < 0.0002).

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and other connective tissue diseases (CTD) are characterized by a diverse antibody production which is generally not organ-or receptor-specific.