No abstract available.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Centromere ; Humans

No abstract available.
Reticulin ; Autoantibodies ; Collagen ; Neoplasms ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect ; Neoplasms, Second Primary ; Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Transitional Cell ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Autoantibodies have been detected in patients with psychiatric disorders. However, there is no standard test for the detection of these autoantibodies. In this study, we analyzed autoimmune target (AIT) test results in patients with psychiatric disorders and investigated the clinical utility of the AIT test for psychiatric disorders. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data from patients diagnosed with psychiatric disorders between August 1995 and May 2015. Of these, 100 patients assessed using the AIT test were enrolled in this study. Data regarding positive rates, immunofluorescent patterns of AIT results, and the presence of autoimmune diseases in patients with psychiatric disorders were retrospectively collected and analyzed. RESULTS: The autoantibody-positive rate was high in patients with psychiatric disorders (70.0%, 70/100). The positive rates in patients with schizophrenia, depressive disorders, bipolar and related disorders, adjustment disorders, anxiety disorders, and others were 82.9%, 64.7%, 88.9%, 57.1%, 66.7%, and 53.8%, respectively. The most frequent pattern of immunofluorescence was a speckled pattern in 30 cases, followed by microtubule organizing center with microtubule (MTOC-MT) in 17 cases. Twenty-one patients were diagnosed with autoimmune diseases. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the incidence of autoantibodies was high in patients with psychiatric disorders not specific to schizophrenia. This suggests that the AIT test may therefore have the potential to be a screening test for psychiatric disorders. Further, additional AIT tests in patients with psychiatric disorders may help to clarify the relationships between psychiatric disorders and autoimmune disease.
Adjustment Disorders ; Anxiety Disorders ; Autoantibodies ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Bipolar and Related Disorders ; Depressive Disorder ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mass Screening ; Microtubule-Organizing Center ; Microtubules ; Retrospective Studies ; Schizophrenia

Bile canalicular antibody (BCA) was first reported in 1969. Many studies of BCA were performed in the 1970s and 1980s and revealed that BCA has a highly positive rate in chronic active hepatitis and primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). These studies suggested that BCA can be useful in the diagnosis of these liver diseases. However, BCA is almost negative in patients with alcoholic hepatitis. We report a case of BCA in a 50-yr-old woman with a history of heavy alcohol consumption. The patient's serum levels of aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase were increased, leading to a diagnosis of alcoholic hepatitis. The patient was evaluated for liver disease. Anti-mitochondria antibody, anti-smooth muscle antibody, and anti-liver kidney microsomal antibody tests were conducted, yielding negative results. However, during this testing process, the patient's serum was incidentally found to be positive for BCA at a titer of 1:160. This is the first case report of BCA in Korea.
Alanine Transaminase ; Alcohol Drinking ; Alcoholics* ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Bile* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hepatitis, Alcoholic* ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; Humans ; Kidney ; Korea ; Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary ; Liver Diseases

BACKGROUND: Many studies have reported the association between several anti-neuronal antibodies and neurologic diseases. However, there is no useful autoantibody screening test for neurologic diseases unlike the antinuclear antibody test for rheumatologic diseases. Hence, we investigated the clinical utility of the autoimmune target (AIT) test as screening test for autoantibodies in neurologic diseases. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the results of the AIT test for 375 serum samples of patients diagnosed with several neurologic diseases such as motor neuron disease (MND), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease (PD), encephalopathy (EC), polyneuropathy (PN), cerebral ischemic attack, encephalitis, myelitis, epilepsy, and stroke. RESULTS: The overall positive rate of the AIT test in aforementioned diseases was 77.9%. The positive rates for MND, ALS, PD, EC, PN, and the others were 81.3%, 83.9%, 84.8%, 59.3%, 73%, and 75%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate high positive rates in the AIT test. We believe that the AIT test has potential application for autoantibody screening in the neurologic diseases. We look forward to last as the study about relations between the results of the AIT test and the specific antibodies for neurologic diseases.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ; Antibodies ; Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Autoantibodies ; Brain Diseases ; Encephalitis ; Epilepsy ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Motor Neuron Disease ; Myelitis ; Parkinson Disease ; Polyneuropathies ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke

Smooth muscle antibodies (SMAs) are diagnostic markers for the serological diagnosis of type 1 autoimmune hepatitis. SMA that is restricted to staining of the stomach muscle and blood vessel walls was referred to as "SMA-V". In addition, SMAs are classified into the peritubular (SMA-T) and glomerular (SMA-G) patterns. SMAs are occasionally present in patients with malignancies, but have not yet been reported in thyroid cancer. We came across the first case of SMA positivity in a patient with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). A 31-yr-old male was admitted to our hospital for evaluation of incidentally detected thyroid cancer. He had been diagnosed with PTC based on pathological results following fine-needle aspiration biopsy. The patient underwent total thyroidectomy followed by radio-iodine treatment. The serum levels of AST and ALT were increased before radiotherapy. Tests were conducted for the evaluation of liver disease. SMA was positive at a titer of 1:320, showing positive results for the vessel walls but negative results for the glomerulus and tubules in the kidney (SMA-V pattern). The association of SMA with malignancies and the classification of SMA immunofluorescent subtypes have been previously reported. However, these studies have not clearly established the ability of SMA subtype to predict a specific disease. Therefore, evaluation of an association of SMA pattern with specific diseases in SMA-positive patients may provide additional and useful information for the rapid diagnosis and accurate treatment of patients with autoimmune diseases or malignancies. This case report could serve as a great resource for further studies on SMA.
Antibodies ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Blood Vessels ; Classification ; Diagnosis ; Hepatitis, Autoimmune ; Humans ; Kidney ; Liver Diseases ; Male ; Muscle, Smooth* ; Radiotherapy ; Stomach ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms* ; Thyroidectomy

No abstract available.
Aged ; Antibodies, Antinuclear/analysis/*immunology ; Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Hepatitis C/*diagnosis/drug therapy ; Humans ; Liver Failure/diagnosis/immunology ; Male

Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) is highly correlated with cytoplasmic antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (c-ANCA). Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) rarely contract WG. Although several concurrent cases have been reported overseas, there are no known cases in Korea. Here we report a unique case of RA with atypical WG testing positive for perinuclear ANCA (p-ANCA) and negative for anti-myeloperoxidase (MPO) antibodies. The 62-yr-old female patient presented with multiple joint pain and showed typical blood test results for RA, i.e., an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein concentration, and positive for rheumatoid factor and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies. RA was clear based on a total score of 10 when applying the classification criteria developed by the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (2010). In an autoimmune target test, speckled and skeleton patterns were observed. In an ANCA test, p-ANCA was observed (titer, 1:2,560), and tests for anti-proteinase 3 (PR3) and anti-MPO antibodies were negative. After admission, multiple nodules were detected on a chest X-ray and a computed tomography scan. We suspected that she had rheumatic nodules or vasculitis and performed an open lung biopsy. We detected necrotic granulomatous vasculitis, classified as WG, thus leading to WG diagnosis. In conclusion, WG was diagnosed in an RA patient who was negative for c-ANCA (negative PR3) and positive for p-ANCA (negative anti-MPO), and this peculiar finding is likely to improve diagnosis in cases of RA with atypical WG.
Antibodies ; Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic ; Arthralgia ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Biopsy ; Blood Sedimentation ; C-Reactive Protein ; Classification ; Cytoplasm ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Hematologic Tests ; Humans ; Korea ; Lung ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Rheumatic Nodule ; Rheumatoid Factor ; Skeleton ; Thorax ; Vasculitis ; Wegener Granulomatosis*

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that results in a chronic inflammatory disorder, which principally attacks the small joints. Several autoantibodies, such as rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibody, are known to be associated with RA. Anti-proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) antibodies are mainly observed in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Indeed, a high titer of these antibodies is considered highly suggestive of SLE; however, anti-PCNA antibodies also appear in other autoimmune diseases. Two previous reports described RA patients with low titers of anti-PCNA antibodies, respectively. In this report, we describe a case of an RA patient exhibiting a high titer (>1:2,560) of anti-PCNA antibodies. The 56-yr-old female patient, with no underlying disease or medication history, presented with multiple joint pain and morning stiffness that had begun 6 months prior. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and RF were elevated (102 mm/hr and 77 IU/mL, respectively), and C-reactive protein (CRP) was 0.8 mg/dL. While the test for anti-CCP antibodies was negative, an anti-PCNA pattern (>1:2,560) and a homogeneous pattern (1:320) were detected by autoimmune target (AIT) test. The presence of anti-PCNA antibodies was subsequently confirmed using the double immunodiffusion method. The anti-dsDNA test was also positive (1:160). X-ray imaging showed soft tissue swelling of multiple joints of both hands and wrists. According to the 2010 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) classification criteria, the patient was classified as having RA. This is the first case to describe high titers anti-PCNA antibodies associated with RA.
Antibodies* ; Arthralgia ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Autoantibodies ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Blood Sedimentation ; C-Reactive Protein ; Classification ; Female ; Hand ; Humans ; Immunodiffusion ; Joints ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Rheumatoid Factor ; Wrist

The presence of anti-gastric parietal cell antibodies (AGPAs) has been strongly associated with the pathogenesis of pernicious anemia and atrophic gastritis and has been rarely reported in thyrotoxicosis. In addition, AGPAs more commonly occur in the Western population. No case of AGPA occurring in thyrotoxicosis has been reported in Korea to date. We report a case involving the occurrence of AGPAs in a thyrotoxicosis patient examined at the Hanyang University Hospital. Upon medical consultation, a 55-yr-old woman with no significant medical history was found to have elevated levels of cholesterol, AST, ALT, gamma glutamyl transferase, and mild anemia. Further blood tests revealed elevated levels of T3, free T4, and thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulin (TSI), low level of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), and negative results for the anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti-TPO) and anti-thyroglobulin antibody (anti-TG), for which the patient was diagnosed with thyrotoxicosis. To rule out autoimmune hepatitis in the explanation of the continuously elevated levels of AST and ALT, the autoimmune target (AIT), anti-smooth muscle antibody (ASMA), anti-liver/kidney/microsomal antibody (LKM), anti-mitochondria antibody (AMA) and anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) tests were done, and the results were all negative. However, during this process, the patient tested positive for AGPA, when stomach tissue was used as the sample. Finally, the patient was diagnosed with thyrotoxicosis without any other autoimmune disease. This is the first report of confirmed presence of AGPA in a thyrotoxicosis-only patient in Korea.
Anemia ; Anemia, Pernicious ; Antibodies* ; Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Female ; Gastritis, Atrophic ; Hematologic Tests ; Hepatitis, Autoimmune ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins, Thyroid-Stimulating ; Korea ; Peroxidase ; Rabeprazole* ; Stomach ; Thyrotoxicosis* ; Thyrotropin ; Transferases