Antibodies to Cardiolipin in Patients with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

Antibodies to cardiolipin have been recognized in up to 65% ofpatients with systemic lupus erythematosus. It has been claimed that they aresignificantly associated with intravascular thrombosis and with obstetrical complications.Thus far they have been found to be less prevalent in other diseases.Because of the high concentration of cardiolipin in mitochondrial membranesand the presence of antimitochondrial antibodies in patients with primary biliarycirrhosis, the authors investigated the prevalence of antibodies to cardiolipin in agroup of 31 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. lt was found that the prevalenceand levels of anticardiolipin antibodies of lgG and lgA isotype are as high inpatients with primary biliary cirrhosis as in 35 consecutive patients with systemiclupus erythematosus. None of the patients with primary biliary cirrhosis gave anyhistory of venous or arterial thrombosis. The rate of miscarriage was less than thatreported for the general population. The availability for study of a second groupof patients with high levels of anticardiolipin antibodies should make it possibleto determine whether the association of these antibodies with thrombosis andfetal wastage in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus is a direct relation shipor an epiphenomenon