title: Anticardiolipin antibodies are not associated with rheumatic heart disease.
abstract: The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of anticardiolipin antibodies in rheumatic valve heart disease. Serum samples of 31 consecutive patients with rheumatic heart disease and documented valve involvement, as well as six patients with acute rheumatic fever were tested for IgG anticardiolipin antibodies by a validated ELISA. No anticardiolipin antibodies were found when a cut-off point set at mean +/- 5 s.d. was applied. We can conclude that anticardiolipin antibodies are not present in rheumatic heart disease patients and, as suggested by several observations, these antibodies do not appear to have a pathogenic role in this particular disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Instituto Nacional de Cardiologiá Ignacio Chávez, México City, Mexico.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ilarraza
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Márquez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alcocer
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bañales
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Nava
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Reyes
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017153:Antibodies, Anticardiolipin / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006351:Heart Valves / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012214:Rheumatic Heart Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology*; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies
chemical_list: D017153:Antibodies, Anticardiolipin; D007074:Immunoglobulin G