Human anti-alpha-enolase antibody in sera from patients with Behçet's disease and rheumatologic disorders.
OBJECTIVE
alpha-Enolase is a target antigen of IgM-type anti-endothelial cell antibody in patients with Behçet's disease (BD). The objective of this study was to assess the reactivity of serum anti-alpha-enolase antibodies in BD and in other rheumatologic diseases, and to evaluate the clinical significance of serum anti-alpha-enolase antibodies in BD.


METHODS
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunoblotting were used to examine serum samples from patients with BD (n=100), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (n=50), systemic sclerosis (n=21), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n=20), Takayasu's arteritis (n=20), dermatomyositis (n=17), mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) (n=11), and samples from healthy volunteer donors (n=23). The medical records of patients with BD were reviewed to investigate their clinical characteristics.


RESULTS
Specific positive signals against recombinant human alpha-enolase were detected by IgM ELISA of serum samples from 56 of the 100 BD patients (56.0%), 24 of the 50 SLE patients (48.0%), 15 of the 21 systemic sclerosis patients (71.4%), 13 of the 20 RA patients (65.0%), 10 of the 20 Takayasu's arteritis patients (50.0%), 9 of the 17 dermatomyositis patients (52.9%), and 5 of the 11 MCTD patients (45.5%). The number of BD patients with vascular lesions was significantly higher in the anti-alpha-enolase antibody positive group than in the negative group (p=0.027).


CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrated the reactivities of serum anti-alpha-enolase antibodies in BD and other rheumatologic diseases with moderate specificity and also found that serum anti-alpha-enolase antibodies in BD can be associated with vascular system involvement.
Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Biology Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. kwanglee@yuhs.ac
J H
JH
Lee
S B
SB
Cho
D
D
Bang
S H
SH
Oh
K-J
KJ
Ahn
J
J
Kim
Y-B
YB
Park
S-K
SK
Lee
K H
KH
Lee
D000328:Adult; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007075:Immunoglobulin M / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / Q000276:immunology*; D012216:Rheumatic Diseases / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D014657:Vasculitis / Q000150:complications / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology
D001323:Autoantibodies; D015415:Biomarkers; D007075:Immunoglobulin M; C087589:anti-endothelial cell antibody; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase