Gilad Halpert, Israel
Sheba Medical Center Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune DiseasesPresenter of 3 Presentations
AUTOIMMUNITY TO AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM AS A CAUSE OF FATIGUE
AUTOANTIBODIES TO AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM IN NEW AUTOIMMUNE CONDITIONS
AUTOIMMUNE DYSAUTONOMIA IN WOMEN WITH SILICONE BREAST IMPLANTS
Abstract
Background and Aims
During the past few years, the safety of silicone breast implants (SBIs) has stirred an intense debate, concerning their potential for induction of autoimmunity. Recently we found that women with SBIs had an increased risk of having an autoimmune disease. The serologic presence of autoantibodies against muscarinic/adrenergic receptors, has been described previously in autoimmune diseases. In the current study, we aimed to evaluate circulating autoantibodies level against muscarinic (M1-M5) and adrenergic (α1, α2, β1, β2) receptors in women with SBIs, and to explore any correlation between autoantibodies level and the severity of clinical symptoms reported by the patients.
Methods
A test panel of autoantibodies against muscarinic (M1-M5) and adrenergic (α1, α2, β1, β2) receptors was determined in the sera of 25 females with SBIs, using 'Auto-Antibodies against G protein-coupled receptors ELISA' kit.
Results
Patients reported shared clinical symptoms such as myalgia, arthralgia, sleep disturbance, chronic fatigue, memory loss and dry mouth. ELISA examination of circulating autoantibodies revealed 100% of patients with positive levels of anti-muscarinic cholinergic receptor type 3 (anti-M3R) antibodies, 80% of patients with positive levels of anti-α1 adrenergic receptor (anti-α1AR) antibody and 54% of patients shows positive levels of both anti-M2R and anti-α2AR antibodies. More importantly, we found direct correlation between certain anti-muscarinic or adrenergic receptor autoantibody level and the severity of specific reported symptoms which relates to the receptor’s physiological function in the body.
Conclusions
Our results highlight the importance of circulating anti-muscarinic and adrenergic autoantibodies for the diagnosis, pathogenesis and potential therapy for women with SBIs-induced clinical syndrome.