title: Anti-Mitotic Spindle Apparatus Antoantibodies: Prevalence and Disease Association in Chinese Population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mitotic spindle apparatus (MSA) antibodies are rare findings with undefined clinical significance in clinical research. We aimed at investigating the prevalence and clinical significance of anti-MSA antibodies in Chinese population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between 2008 and 2013, a total of 180,180 patients were studied for the presence of anti-MSA antibodies. The clinical details and laboratory data of anti-MSA-positive patients were retrospectively collected and analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 180,180 patients tested, 68,640 patients presented with positive antinuclear antibodies (ANAs, 38.10%), but only 32 patients with positive anti-MSA antibodies (0.018%). Diagnoses were established in 22 of 32 patients: 16 connective tissue diseases (CTDs), mainly Sjogren syndrome (SS, 5/16), rheumatoid arthritis (RA, 4/16), and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, 3/16), and 6 nonautoimmune conditions. The most frequent clinical symptoms of the anti-MSA-positive patients were arthralgia and eyes and mouth drying. Additionally, 70% of anti-MSA antibodies were not associated with other ANAs, however, when associated, the most frequent ANA was anti-SSA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Anti-MSA antibodies have a low prevalence and female gender predominance. Anti-MSA antibodies are primarily associated with CTDs, mainly SS, RA, and SLE. The presence of anti-MSA antibodies might be the unique serological markers of the CTDs, especially when anti-SSA, SSB, and dsDNA antibodies are negative, or the level of RF is low.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, China.|Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xi
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Yongkang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Lixin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Bei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Junlong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. wanglanlanhxvip@163.com.
authors.forename: Lanlan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D004194:Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D008941:Spindle Apparatus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies
keywords: Sjogren syndrome; connective tissue disease; mitotic spindle apparatus; rheumatoid arthritis; systemic lupus erythematosus