Significance ofanti-entactin antibodies inpatients withsystemic lupus erythematosus andrelated

Objectives-To furtherevaluatethe association of anti-entactin antibodies withclinical manifestations inpatients withsystemic lupuserythematosus (SLE) andrelated disorders. Methods-Sera wereanalysed forantienactin antibodies from79patients with SLE,38patients withsystemic vasculitides, 25patients withrheumatoid arthritis, 20patients withprogressive systemic sclerosis andfive withBehS:et's syndrome. Serafrom150healthy blooddonorsand20 patients withpneumonia wereanalysed as controls. Tostudy theassociation ofantientactin antibodies withseverity and activity inSLE,30patients wereassigned intothreegroupswith10patients ineach: (1)withmildmanifestations; (2)severe disease without renalinvolvement and(3) franklupusnephritis. Twobloodsamples fromeachpatient wereanalysed, onefrom theactive andtheotherfromtheinactive phaseofthedisease. Additionally, serial serafrom12patients withSLEwerealso analysed. onepatients withSLE (390/) had IgG,IgM or both antientactin antibodies. Twentythreeof thesepatients (29%)hadbiopsy verified glomerulonephritis and 12 (50%)were positive for anti-entactin antibodies. Of theremaining 56 patients without apparentrenalinvolvement, 18 (36%) werepositive foranti-entactin antibodies. (chisquared =2-77,p>005).Withthe exception ofrheumatoid arthritis where sixpatients (24%)hadIgManti-entactin antibodies, theantibodies were present much lessfrequently inotherdiseases (twopatients withsystemic vasculitis whilst noneofthepatients withPSS or Beh9cet's syndrome). Onlyone patient withpneumonia andnoneofthe150sera fromhealthy blooddonorshad antientactin antibodies. Among Group1, three(30%)werepositive forIgG or IgM anti-entactin antibodies. Six(60%) patients ingroup2,andfivepatients (50%/o) ingroup3werepositive foranti-entactin antibodies. However,the difference betweenthepresenceofanti-entactin