title: Little evidence for anti-endothelial cell antibodies in microscopic polyarteritis and Wegener's granulomatosis.
abstract: We studied sera from patients with vasculitis and controls for the presence of anti-endothelial cell antibodies (AECA) and correlated these with disease type, anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) and anti-myeloperoxidase (MPO) antibodies. AECA were detected by a cellular ELISA on cultured human umbilical vein endothelium. AECA were found in the sera of one of 43 patients with microscopic polyarteritis (2%), five of 27 patients with Wegener's granulomatosis (19%), three of 23 patients with an idiopathic glomerulonephritis (13%), none of eight patients with rheumatoid arthritis and three of 12 patients with rheumatoid vasculitis (25%). In patients with a vasculitis AECA titres were higher in sera with a positive ANCA as compared with ANCA negative sera although the difference was not significant (P = 0.0702) and there was no correlation between AECA and anti-MPO titres (r = 0.1171 P = 0.114). AECA binding was not enhanced following upregulation of endothelial ICAM-1 and ELAM-1 by TNF alpha. This study shows that AECA occur infrequently in microscopic polyarteritis and Wegener's granulomatosis, and are not a major antibody system in these vasculitides.
authors.affiliation: Renal Research Laboratory, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varagunam
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nwosu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Adu
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garner
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Michael
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D019268:Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000276:immunology*; D014890:Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D009195:Peroxidase / Q000276:immunology; D010488:Polyarteritis Nodosa / Q000276:immunology*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D019268:Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic; D001323:Autoantibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D009195:Peroxidase