Premium
Anti‐C1q antibodies in scleroderma
Author(s) -
Liaskos C.,
Rentouli S.,
Simopoulou T.,
Gkoutzourelas A.,
Norman G.L.,
Brotis A.,
Alexiou I.,
Katsiari C.,
Bogdanos D.P.,
Sakkas L.I.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1111/bjd.18066
Subject(s) - autoantibody , medicine , scleroderma (fungus) , fibrosis , pulmonary fibrosis , antibody , connective tissue disease , immunology , pathology , systemic disease , autoimmune disease , immune system , disease , inoculation
Summary Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune condition which means that the body's immune system, which usually fights off disease, wrongly targets healthy parts of the body, and SSc patients produce antibodies to their own tissues (‘autoantibodies’). Extensive thickening and scarring of tissues (fibrosis) is the main feature of the condition and is due to over‐production of collagen. Changes in small blood vessels also occur. When fibrosis occurs in the lungs (pulmonary fibrosis) it can lead to high blood pressure in the arteries going to the lungs, and this may be life‐threatening. The condition is commoner in women. SSc can be localised or disseminated (generalised), depending on the extent of skin involvement. Although the cause of SSc has not been fully worked out, many of the autoantibodies associated with the condition are believed to be involved in one way or another. Autoantibodies called ‘anti‐C1q’ are certainly found in another autoimmune condition called systemic lupus erythematosus, so the aim of this study from Greece and the USA was to see if they were also present in SSc. Anti‐C1q autoantibodies were found in 16.1% of the 124 SSc patients in the study, occurring as often as the third most frequently found autoantibody, known as anti‐RNA polymerase III. They were found particularly in men and in patients with disseminated SSc. Presence of anti‐C1q antibodies was associated with pulmonary fibrosis but not with any of the other features of SSc. The authors therefore suggest that anti‐C1q autoantibodies could be looked at as a marker for (sign of) pulmonary fibrosis in SSc patients.