ab21209

Autoantibodies and human immunodeficiency viruses infection: A case-control study

P. Chretien¹, J.-C. Monier², F. Oksman³, M. San Marco⁴, A. Escande⁵, J. Goetz⁶, J. Cohen⁷, A. Baquey⁸, R.-L. Humbel⁹, J. Sibilia¹⁰

¹Laboratory of Hematology and Immuno-logy, CHI de Créteil, Créteil; ²Laboratory of Immunology, Lyon; ³Laboratory of Immunology, CHU Purpan, Toulouse; ⁴Laboratory of Immunology, Hôpital de la Conception, Marseille; ⁵Laboratory of Immunology, CHU Saint Eloi, Montpellier; ⁶Laboratory of Immunology, CHU Hautepierre, Strasbourg; ⁷Laboratory of Immunology, CHU Robert Debré, Reims; ⁸Laboratory of Immunology, Bordeaux, France; ⁹Laboratory of Biochemistry and Immunopathology, CH Luxembourg, Luxembourg; ¹⁰Department of Rheumatology, CHU Hautepierre, Strasbourg, France.

ABSTRACT
Objective
To determine the prevalence of organ-specific and non-specific autoantibodies in HIV-infected patients.

Design
A multicentric collaborative case-control study including 105 HIV patients and 100 sex- and age-matched HIV-negative healthy volunteers.

Methods
Antinuclear, anti-ds DNA, anti-histone, anti-Sm, rheumatoid factor(IgM), anti-b₂ glycoprotein 1, anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic, anti-LKM1, anti-LCA1, anti-gastric parietal cell, antiplatelet, anti-intermediate filament, anti-mitotic spindle apparatus, anti-Golgi, anti-ribosome and anti-thyroid autoantibodies were screened in six European laboratories.

Results
Only IgG and IgM anticardiolipin, IgG antiplatelet, anti-smooth muscle and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies were statiscally more frequent in HIV patients. There was no correlation with the numbers of CD4+ cells except in the case of anti-smooth muscle antibodies. We were unable to find specific autoantibodies such as anti-ds DNA, anti-Sm, AMA, anti-LKM1, anti-LCA1 or anti-b₂ GP1 antibodies in these patients.

Conclusions
Our results indicate that the autoantibody profile of HIV infections is comparable to those of other chronic viral infections. HIV does not seem to be more autoimmunogenic than other viruses.

Key words
Human immuno-deficiency virus, autoantibodies, anticardiolipin antibodies, antinuclear antibodies, anti-smooth muscle antibodies, antiplatelet antibodies, anti-thyroid antibodies.

Please address correspondence to: Dr. Jean Sibilia, Department of Rheumatology- CHU Hautepierre, avenue Molière no. 1, 67098 Strasbourg Cedex, France.