J Korean Med Sci.  2006 Jun;21(3):412-417. 10.3346/jkms.2006.21.3.412.

Circulating Autoantibodies in Patients with Aspirin-intolerant Asthma: An Epiphenomenon Related to Airway Inflammation

• Ye YM
• Nahm DH
• Kim SH
• Kim SH
• Choi JH
• Suh CH
• Park HS

• KMID: 1778420
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2006.21.3.412

Abstract

Several studies have suggested the involvement of an autoimmune mechanism in aspirin (ASA)-intolerant asthma. To test this hypothesis, we measured the levels of circulating autoantibodies, such as IgG and IgA to tissue transglutaminase (TGase), IgG to cytokeratins (CKs) 8, 18, and 19, Clq-binding immune complex (CIC), and antinuclear antibody (ANA), in the sera of 79 patients with ASA-intolerant asthma (Group I) and those of two control groups, consisting of 61 patients with ASA-tolerant asthma (Group II) and 88 healthy control subjects (Group III) by means of ELISA. Significantly higher prevalences of IgG antibodies to CK18 (13.9%) and CK19 (17.7%) were noted in Group I, as compared with Group III (p<0.05 for all) not with Group II. Regarding the prevalences of other autoantibodies, the levels of ANA (1.3%), IgG to TGase (3.8%), and CIC (24.7%) in Group I were not significantly different from those in Groups II and III. Significant correlations were found between positivities for the anti-CK18 and anti-CK19 autoantibodies and the PC20 methacholine values in the analysis of asthma Groups I and II vs. normal controls, (p=0.001 and p=0.003, respectively). Further studies are needed to explore the potential involvement of an autoantibody-mediated mechanism in the clinical manifestation of bronchial asthma.

Keyword

Aspirin; Bronchoconstriction; Aspirin-intolerant Asthma; Autoantibodies; Cytokeratin; Keratin

MeSH Terms

Middle Aged
Male
Keratins/chemistry
Inflammation
Humans
Female
*Drug Resistance
Child
Case-Control Studies
Bronchi/*pathology
Autoantibodies/*chemistry
Asthma/*drug therapy/*immunology
Aspirin/*pharmacology
Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/pharmacology
Aged

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Separation of recombinant CKs on SDS-PAGE (CK), and immunoblot findings using the sera of patients with ASA-intolerant asthma (AIA), normal controls (NC), buffer (B), and monoclonal antibodies (M) to the three cytokeratins.

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