Humans ; Antibodies, Antiphospholipid ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome/drug therapy*

BACKGROUNDS: Antiphospholipid antibodies which are frquently found in systemic lupus erythematosus and primary antiphospholipid syndrome are associated with recurrent abortions and thromboembolism. In this study the authors investigated whether antiphospholipid antibodies are found in Graves disease, a representative organ-specific autoimmune disease and what is the clinical implication of the antiphospholipid antibodies if they appear in Graves disease. METHODS: Anticardiolipin antibody and lupus anticoagulant activity were measured in 57 untreated hyperthyroid Graves patients. 42 euthyroid patients with thyroid nodules served as controls. RESULTS: Eight of the 57 patients with Graves disease had anticardiolipin antibody which was significantly more frequent than in control group. Six of the eight patients who had anticardiolipin antibody had IgM type antibody and two had IgG type antibody. All their antibody activity declined with several months of antithyroid drug therapy and finally disappeared when the patients became euthyroid. Presence of anticardiolipin antibody had no relationship with clinical events such as spontaneous abrtion and thromboembolism. CONCLUSION: Anticardiolipin antibody is frequently found in patients with Graves disease. They seem to appear as an epiphenomenon of autoimmunity and they seem not to have any clinical implications.
Abortion, Habitual ; Antibodies, Anticardiolipin* ; Antibodies, Antiphospholipid ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Autoimmunity ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Graves Disease* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Pregnancy ; Thromboembolism ; Thyroid Nodule

BACKGROUNDThe management of patients with recurrent miscarriage (RM) and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS) includes prolonged treatment with heparin and aspirin, starting from the confirmation of pregnancy and continuing until 6 weeks after birth. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between changes in antiphospholipid antibody titers and clinical outcomes. The effect of a shortened treatment regimen was also evaluated.

METHODSA prospective study of 123 patients with RM and APS between March 2012 and May 2014 was conducted. Patients were pretreated with a low dose of prednisone plus aspirin before pregnancy, and heparin was added after conception. The levels of antiphospholipid antibodies and pregnancy outcomes were evaluated.

RESULTSAll patients were positive for anti-β2-glycoprotein 1 (anti-β2-GP1) IgM. After prepregnancy treatment with low-dose prednisone plus aspirin, 99 of 123 patients became pregnant, and 87 of those pregnancies resulted in successful live births, while 12 resulted in miscarriage, showing a success rate of 87.9%. In the live birth group, levels of anti-β2-GP1 were 56.8 ± 49.0 RU/ml before the pretreatment regimen, 32.1 ± 26.0 RU/ml after 2 months of pretreatment, and 24.1 ± 23.1 RU/ml during early pregnancy (P < 0.05). In the miscarriage group, antiphospholipid antibody titers were 52.8 ± 30.7 RU/ml before pretreatment, 38.5 ± 34.2 RU/ml after pretreatment, and 33.9 ± 24.7 RU/ml during early pregnancy; the decrease in antiphospholipid antibodies was lower in the miscarriage group than in the live birth group (P < 0.05). Of the 24 infertile patients, the average antibody titer did not decline after pretreatment (P = 0.802).

CONCLUSIONSAnti-β2-GP1 IgM was the predominant form of antibody in patients with RM and APS. The decreases in antiphospholipid antibody titers correlated with better pregnancy outcomes. The shorter treatment regimen was effective and economical.

Abortion, Habitual ; immunology ; prevention & control ; Adult ; Antibodies, Antiphospholipid ; immunology ; Anticoagulants ; therapeutic use ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome ; drug therapy ; immunology ; Aspirin ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Heparin ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Live Birth ; Prednisone ; therapeutic use ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications ; prevention & control ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Prospective Studies

Recurrent spontaneous abortion is one of the common complications in women of childbearing age during pregnancy. The immune factor accounts for a large proportion of many causes. Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome is the most common type of acquired thrombophilia disease. Autoimmune diseases that cause thrombosis and obstetric complications under the action of antibodies are also the most common type of immune-related recurrent abortion. At present, there is no unified opinion on the treatment of this disease, especially the treatment of immunoglobulins and other drugs like glucocorticoid. Here we reviewed the progress of diagnosis and treatment of antiphospholipid antibody-related recurrent abortions and retrospectively analyzed and summarized the drug regimens and pregnancy outcomes of this disease with pregnancy patients in our hospital. A total of 75 patients were included. According to their clinical manifestations and laboratory results, these patients were basically divided into two categories: classical antiphospholipid syndrome and non-classical antiphospholipid syndrome. The latter was further divided into serum-negative antiphospholipid syndrome and antiphospholipid antibody-related recurrent abortion patients based on their clinical manifestations and antiphospholipid antibody results. The patients were divided into four categories: aspirin + hydroxychloroquine, aspirin + low molecular weight heparin, aspirin + low molecular weight heparin + hydroxychloroquine, aspirin + hydroxychloroquine + low molecular weight heparin + low dose glucocorticoids. Among them, aspirin + hydroxychloroquine + low molecular weight heparin + low dose glucocorticoid treatment regimen was most commonly used. Most of the patients who received the above different treatment regimens achieved full-term infants, and a small number of patients had adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as premature delivery, placental abruption, eclampsia, and fetal malformation. And adverse pregnancy outcomes also occurred in this group. It might be related to the severity of the disease and the potential adverse effects of maternal fetal. However, further statistical analysis is needed for the risk factors affecting the pregnancy outcome of this part of patients.
Abortion, Habitual ; Abortion, Spontaneous/etiology* ; Antibodies, Antiphospholipid ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome/drug therapy* ; Aspirin/therapeutic use* ; Female ; Fibrinolytic Agents/therapeutic use* ; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight/therapeutic use* ; Humans ; Hydroxychloroquine/therapeutic use* ; Infant, Newborn ; Pharmaceutical Preparations ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications ; Pregnancy Outcome ; Retrospective Studies

No abstract available.
Adult ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome/*complications/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Catastrophic Illness ; Coronary Angiography ; Fibrinolytic Agents/therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Multiple Organ Failure/etiology ; Recurrence ; Thrombosis/diagnosis/*etiology/prevention & control

OBJECTIVEAntiphospholipid antibody (APL) is a particularly important laboratory diagnostic criterion for antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). The significances of positive APL in childhood are seldom reported nor fully understood. The purpose of this study was to analyze 13 cases with positive APL seen in our hospital and to study the relationship between the positive rates of APL and various clinical diseases especially systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in order to improve the clinical diagnoses and treatment level of APS in children.

METHODSThe clinical data collected from 2000 to 2002 of 13 hospitalized children with positive APL were retrospectively evaluated. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence technique were used respectively to detect APL and antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies (ANCA) of sera from those children. Other various indexes were also detected according to different characteristics of different diseases.

RESULTSEight cases had SLE; 2 had acute post-streptococcal infections. The other 3 cases did not show any evidences of primary diseases; they probably had primary APS. SLE was the most common primary diseases to cause development of APL and the cases with SLE showed more severe cutaneous vasculitis than SLE patients who were negative for APL. There was no significant relationship between the positive rates of APL and that of ANCA. Eight APL positive cases complicated with thrombocytopenia and bleeding were treated with high dosage of immunoglobulin [400 mg/(kg.d), for 3 - 5 d] intravenously; the clinical conditions of these cases were ameliorated soon. While the 5 cases who had thrombotic vasculitis and thromboembolism were treated with anticoagulant and antithrombotic therapy with low molecular weight heparin [50 - 100 U/(kg.d)], which led to good clinical effects.

CONCLUSIONSThe clinical manifestations of children positive for APL were somehow different from those of adults. Positive APL itself may be nonspecific, it can occur from different causes of diseases. APL detection may be useful to suggest anticoagulant and/or antithrombosis therapy. Treatments for APS should be variable according to different causes and severity of diseases, in the cases of thrombocytopenia and bleeding, high dose intravenous immunoglobulin should be given as soon as possible, while in the cases of thrombotic vasculitis and thromboembolism, anticoagulant and antithrombotic therapy should be given soon.

Adult ; Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic ; blood ; Antibodies, Antiphospholipid ; blood ; immunology ; Anticoagulants ; therapeutic use ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome ; blood ; complications ; diagnosis ; therapy ; Child ; Fibrinolytic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Hemorrhage ; etiology ; therapy ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins, Intravenous ; therapeutic use ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; immunology ; Streptococcal Infections ; immunology ; Thrombocytopenia ; etiology ; therapy ; Thromboembolism ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Thrombosis ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Vasculitis ; drug therapy ; etiology

No abstract available.
Aged ; Antibodies, Antiphospholipid/blood ; Anticoagulants/therapeutic use ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome/blood/*complications/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Biomarkers/blood ; Female ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Glucocorticoids/therapeutic use ; Humans ; Multimodal Imaging/methods ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Radiopharmaceuticals ; Takayasu Arteritis/*complications/diagnosis/drug therapy ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome