title: The prevalence of anti-acetylcholinesterase antibodies in autoimmune disease.
abstract: A robust and precise enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with proven sensitivity and specificity has been employed to detect human antibodies (allogenic/autogenic) to human acetylcholinesterase (AChE). The sensitivity of the method has been established using mouse monoclonal antibodies (0.8 ng/ml) and uniquely, human sera positive for anti-Yt(a) allogenic antibodies, to one phenotypic form (most common) of human AChE. The latter was also used as the positive human control to ensure functionality of the assay. The ELISA method was used to establish a normal distribution curve for absorbance values employing sera from healthy blood donors Subsequently, the ELISA was employed to investigate the prevalence of anti-AChE antibodies in patients with confirmed autoimmune disease and patients with non-autoimmune thyroid disease (diseased control). The results indicate that there is not a high prevalence of anti-AChE antibodies in patients with confirmed autoimmune disease. The lack of anti-AChE autoantibodies in patients' with clinically apparent Graves' ophthalmopathy, mitigates against there being a causal role of such antibodies in Graves' associated eye disease.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Biochemistry Department, Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil, Mid Glamorgan CF47 9DT, Wales, UK. john.geen@nglam-tr.wales.nhs.uk
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Geen
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Howells
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ludgate
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Hullin
authors.forename: S I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Hogg
mesh_terms: D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000276:immunology; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase