BACKGROUND The seroprevalence of anti-H. pylori IgA antibodies has been reported to vary among populations and in relation to strains of Helicobacter pylori bacterium. However, there has been conflicting reports on the association between IgA serological status and the histological variables of chronic gastritis. This study was therefore conducted to clarify this relationship. METHOD Using an...

Anti-Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibodies were tested in 11 children with chronic active EBV infection. Anti-virus capsid antigen (VCA)-IgG antibody titers ranged from 1:640 to 1:10,240. Anti-VCA-IgM antibody was consistently positive in 5 of the 11 patients; anti-VCA-IgA antibody was consistently positive in 6 of the 10 patients; anti-early antigen (EA)-IgG antibody was consistently positive in...

OBJECTIVE Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies of IgG isotype are specific diagnostic markers of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recent evidence also points to their direct involvement in the pathophysiology. Little information is available, however, regarding the isotype distribution of anti-CCP antibodies and the characteristics of IgA and IgM anti-CCP. METHODS IgG, IgA and Ig...

INTRODUCTION We and others have previously shown that antibodies against cyclic citrullinated proteins (anti-CCP) precede the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and in a more recent study we reported that individuals who subsequently developed RA had increased concentrations of several cytokines and chemokines years before the onset of symptoms of joint disease. Here we aimed to evaluate ...

Deamidated gliadin peptide antibodies have recently been suggested as reliable tools for celiac disease (CD) diagnosis. We compared their utility for diagnosis CD in comparison to the routinely used anti-endomysial, and anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies. We studied 65 patients (17 men, 48 women; age range, 17- 63 years) who underwent intestinal biopsy because of clinical suspicion of smal...

BACKGROUND Anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG) assays that use human tTG as antigen have recently become available. We evaluated commercially available assays with human tTG antigen to estimate their diagnostic accuracies and to determine whether they agree sufficiently to be used interchangeably. METHODS Ten commercially available second-generation anti-tTG assays were evaluated. The followin...

Significant progresses on the anti-tissue transglutaminase antibodies (anti-tTG) ELISA tests have been achieved since anti-tTG early development. Our goal was to study the optimization of the antigen immobilization and the antibody reaction conditions in an ELISA test for the detection of anti-tTG. Hence, three variants of an anti-tTG ELISA test were developed: tTG-Gliad-U, tTG-U and tTG-Gliad,...

BACKGROUND Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is rare among young women. The search for unknown risk factors is warranted. Endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) is largely present at the endothelial surface of large arteries. No studies about association of anti-EPCR autoantibodies (anti-EPCR) with AMI are available. METHODS Plasma IgA, IgM and IgG anti-EPCR levels were measured by enzyme-link...

AIMS To compare and contrast the sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values of IgA antibodies to guinea pig tissue transglutaminase (ELISA), endomysium, and reticulin (immunofluorescence), and gliadin (ELISA), and IgG antibodies to gliadin and tissue transglutaminase. METHODS Sera from 27 newly diagnosed patients with coeliac disease, 65 biopsied gastrointestinal disease control...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the role of serum IgG, IgM and IgA anti-dsDNA antibody isotypes in the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and their association with clinical features and disease activity, in a large cohort of SLE patients. METHODS Sera of 200 SLE patients (mean age 34±10.3 years; 26 male and 174 female; median duration of disease 115 months, range 7-378), and of 206 cont...