Author/Editor		Šipek-Dolničar, Alenka
Title		Klinična slika in patohistološke značilnosti zunajglomerulnih žilnih sprememb pri bolnikih s sistemskim lupusom eritematozusom in antikardiolipinskimi protitelesi
Type		monografija
Place		Ljubljana
Publisher		Medicinska fakulteta
Publication year		1999
Volume		str. 53
Language		slo
Abstract		The antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS) is a relatively new clinical entity clinically characterized by multiple tromboembolic events, thrombocytopenia, and recurrent fetal loss and serologically by the production of a heterogeneous family of autoantibodies presumably directed against negatively charged phospholipids. According to the test used to detect these antibodies, they are termed either anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) or lupus anticoagulants (LA). The syndrome can be primary-without other systemic autoimmune disease-or secondary, most commonly part of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). While the clinical aspects of APS have been studied in sizeable series of patients and are relatively well known, the vascular pathology, despite the awareness that vessels seem to be the principal target organ in APS, is known through relatively few case studies. The aim of our study was to examine the vessel histomorphology and the extent of vascular changes in relation to the clinical and laboratory features in an autopsy series of SLE patients with or without aCL. Fourteen consecutive SLE patients who died at our department over a 10 year period (1988-1998) were included. The patients medical files were reviewed for clinical histories and the presence of IgG and IgM aCL as determined by a standard enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Patients considered aCL positive had high levels of aCL at least twice more than 8 weeks apart. aCL positive group was comprised of 13 patients and aCL negative group of 1 patient only. Autopsy samples of various organs (kidneys, heart, brain and skin) were studied by standard histological methods on 1 um-sections and by direct immunofluorescent technique. The samples were specifically stained for fibrin, elastic and connective tissue. Our study showed a high frequency of significantly increased IgG aCL in autopsied SLE patients. (Abstract truncated at 2000 characters.)
Descriptors		LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS, SYSTEMIC ANTIPHOSPHOLIPID SYNDROME ANTIBODIES, ANTICARDIOLIPIN VASCULAR DISEASES ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOSORBENT ASSAY LUPUS NEPHRITIS