Frequency and significance of anticardiolipin antibodies in Chinese patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome

Background

Although aCL antibodies are often found in serum samples from patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS), their clinical significance remains unclear. The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of aCL antibodies and their correlation with the main typical clinical and serological manifestations in Chinese patients with pSS.

Materials and methods

Patients were consecutively recruited among the patients with pSS seen in our rheumatic department between March 2001 and October 2007. All the included patients met the revised European Community Criteria for pSS. All patients fulfilling the clinical criteria for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), SLE, polymyositis, systemic sclerosis or other diffuse connective tissue diseases were excluded from pSS group. Any patients with sarcoidosis, graft-versus-host disease, acquired immune deficiency syndrome or preexisting lymphoma were also excluded.

Results

ACL antibodies were found in 26 (28%) patients; IgG-aCL in 14 patients, IgM-aCL in 9 patients and IgA-aCL in 3 patients. Cutaneous vasculitis and concurrent autoimmune disease(thyroidal disease, primary biliary cirrhosis) were more frequent in the aCL-positive group than in the aCL-negative group(p < 0.05). Patients with positive aCL presented a higher prevalence of positive ANA and hypergammaglobulinemia(p < 0.05).

Conclusion

The prevalence of aCL antibodies in our patients with pSS was 28% and are mainly IgG-aCL and IgM-aCL. ACL antibodies may play a pathogenic role in patients with pSS. Detection of aCL antibodies in patients with pSS may indicate doctor to find if concurrent autoimmune diseases (thyroidal disease, primary biliary cirrhosis) exist.