Anti–interleukin-6 autoantibodies in rheumatic diseases

✍ Scribed by Hiroyuki Takemura; Hiroshi Suzuki; Kazuyuki Yoshizaki; Atsushi Ogata; Takamichi Yuhara; Takao Akama; Kazuhide Yamane; Heihachiro Kashiwagi

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 358 KB
• Volume: 35
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780350814

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

To investigate the presence and the roles of anti-interleukin-6 (anti-il-6) autoantibodies in rheumatic diseases, and to further elucidate clinical and pathophysiologic significance of anticytokine autoantibodies.

Methods:

Anti-il-6 igg autoantibodies were measured by the 125i-il-6 binding activity of igg, which was isolated from serum by protein a-sepharose.

Results:

Nine of 52 sera (17.3%) from patients with systemic sclerosis (ssc) contained anti-il-6 antibodies, whereas only 1.9% of sera from normal subjects and 0-5% of sera from patients with other rheumatic diseases were positive for the antibodies. moreover, anti-il-6 autoantibodies were found predominantly among patients with the limited form of ssc (42.9%), compared with those with the diffuse form (7.9%).

Conclusion:

Anti-il-6 igg autoantibodies were detected in patients with ssc, particularly those with the limited form of the disease, at a significantly increased frequency compared with normal subjects and patients with other rheumatic diseases. these results suggest that the development of anti-il-6 autoantibodies and il-6 may have a role in the pathophysiology of ssc.