AIM To evaluate thyroid function and the presence of antithyroid autoantibodies in patients with sarcoidosis, compared to patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (controls). METHODS Sera were obtained from 26 patients (19 women and 7 men) with active sarcoidosis, age and sex matched to 26 patients with diagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Baseline thyrotropin, total tr...

BACKGROUND Pemphigus autoantibodies have been reported in healthy relatives of pemphigus patients suggesting a genetic predisposition in the pathogenesis of the disease. AIMS To test for the presence of pemphigus autoantibodies in healthy relatives of Turkish patients of pemphigus. METHODS The study group comprised 45 pemphigus patients, 75 unaffected family members and 47 healthy individua...

A common serologic finding in systemic autoimmune diseases is the presence of autoantibodies against intracellular autoantigens. Although their pathogenesis is not fully understood, autoantibodies are important tools for establishing diagnosis, classification and prognosis of autoimmune diseases. In Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and Sjögren's syndrome (SS) autoantibodies mainly target mult...

High titer, class-switched autoantibodies are a hallmark of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Dysregulation of the interferon (IFN) pathway is observed in individuals with active SLE, although the association of specific autoantibodies with chemokine score, a combined measurement of three IFN-regulated chemokines, is not known. To identify autoantibodies associated with chemokine score, we de...

BACKGROUND Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are found ubiquitously in the environment. Since exposure to NTM is universal, infection likely represents underlying host susceptibility factors. Anti-IFN-ɣ autoantibodies have been described previously in patients with NTM. Up to 88 % of patients with disseminated NTM or other opportunistic infections have high-titer anti-IFN-ɣ autoantibodies, comp...

2.1 Genetic associations Patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have an increased risk of other autoimmune conditions, such as autoimmune thyroid disease (AIT), celiac disease (CD), Addison’s disease (AD) and vitiligo. These diseases are associated with organ-specific autoantibodies: AIT with thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and thyroglobulin autoantibodies (TG), CD with endomysial (EMA) and transglutamin...

BACKGROUND Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) results from cell-mediated autoimmune destruction of the β cells of the islets of Langerhans. Autoantibodies directed against the islets are useful clinical tools that allow the recognition and confirmation of β-cell autoimmunity. CONTENT In this review we define the term "islet autoantibody," describe the pathogenesis of autoantibody generation, and explain ...

Autoantibodies from autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) patients react with multiple proteins expressed in the brain. One such autoantibody targets myelin basic protein (MBP). ASD patients have autoantibodies to MBP of both the IgG and IgA classes in high titers, but no autoantibodies of the IgM class. IgA autoantibodies act as serine proteinases and degrade MBP in vitro. They also induce a decrea...

We report a case of type 1 diabetes mellitus during pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment for chronic hepatitis C, in a young man previously diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and vitiligo. The diabetes mellitus occurred during the 12th month of therapy and the cessation of interferon was necessary. Besides anti-islet autoantibodies our patient had also anti-insulin receptor autoanti...