UNDERSTANDING THE BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ANTI-DFS70 ANTIBODIES: IMPACT OF TNFALPHA BLOCKERS ON THEIR OCCURRENCE IN INFLAMMATORY ARTHRITIS.
- Teresa Carbone, Italy
Abstract
Background and Aims
The anti-dense fine speckled 70 kD (DFS70) antibodies have been detected in patients with several chronic inflammatory conditions, cancer, rheumatic diseases and also in apparently healthy individuals. The impact of therapeutic intervention on the occurrence of these antibodies is still undefined. The aims of our study were to investigate effects of anti-TNFα therapies on the development of anti-DFS70 antibodies.
Methods
Sera from adult Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Spondyloarthritis (SpA) patients, fulfilling ACR/EULAR 2010 and ASAS 2011 criteria, respectively, were analyzed for anti-DFS70 antibodies as measured by indirect immunofluorescence and by immunoblotting. Medical history, demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected at enrolment.
Results
The prevalence rate of anti-DFS70 antibodies was 4.0% (4/100) in RA and 3.8% (4/105) in SpA, respectively, showing no statistical differences between these disease groups (p>0.05). The evaluation of anti-DFS70 antibodies induction rate after biologic treatments showed that 3 out of 4 anti-DFS70 antibodies both in RA that in SpA cohort were induced by anti-TNFα therapy. Neither RA nor SpA anti-DFS70 positive patients developed the drug-induced lupus erythematosus syndrome (DIL) during treatment with anti-TNFα therapy.
Conclusions
This is the first study investigating the impact of TNFα blockers on the occurrence of anti-DFS70 antibodies. In our cohorts, the majority of anti-DFS70 antibodies were negative before initiating biologics and were induced by anti-TNFα agents. Anti-DFS70 antibodies developed after anti-TNFa therapy were not associated to clinical manifestation of DIL, thus supporting the hypothesis that these autoantibodies do not have pathogenetic role.