Background and Aims

Autonomic dysfunction, at least in subsets of patients could develop due to imbalance of functional autoantibodies against autonomic nervous system autoantigens. We have recently diagnosed women with silicone breast implants (SBIs) suffering from various subjective clinical manifestation, among them: paresthesia, hearing abnormalities, increased sweating, heat sensation, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance, palpitations etc. We hypothesized that dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system in these women may explain, at least in part, some of their enigmatic manifestations.

Methods

A potential direct pathogenic effect of patient-derived autoantibodies will be examined by passive transfer of patients-derived autoantibodies into naïve animals (Localintracerebroventicular (ICV) or intravenous (IV) injections), following evaluation of behavioral and autonomic related manifestations: anxiety level, pain, body temperature and muscle strength.

Results

Preliminary results at our lab, show for the first time the appearance of various circulating autoantibodies against adrenergic and muscarinic acetylcholine receptors in women with SBIs. Furthermore, we show for the first time the appearance of small fiber neuropathy (SFN) in these women. In the current study, we aim to explore the potential pathogenic effect of circulating anti-autonomic receptor autoantibodies from women with SBIs as compared to sex and aged matched control groups (healthy and fibromyalgia).

Conclusions

We believe that examination of anti-autonomic antibodies effect in laboratory animals could help to reveal biomarkers for dysautonomia in genetically susceptible women with SBIs.

The work is supported by a grant from the Government of the Russian Federation (contract 14.W03.31.0009 of 13.02.2017) for state support of scientific research conducted under the supervision of leading scientists.