Prevalence of collagen VII-specific autoantibodies in patients with autoimmune and inflammatory diseases
04.04.2012
Licarete E, Ganz S, Recknagel M, Di Zenzo G, Hashimoto T, Hertl M, Zambruno G, Hundorfean G, Mudter J, Neurath M, Bruckner-Tuderman L, Sitaru C.
BMC Immunol. 2012 Apr 4;13(1):16.
Autoimmunity to collagen VII is typically associated with the skin blistering disease epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA), but also occurs occasionally in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus or inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of our present study was to develop an accurate immunoassay for assessing the presence of autoantibodies against collagen VII in large cohorts of patients and healthy donors. Using a chimeric protein, we developed a new sensitive and specific ELISA to detect collagen specific antibodies. Our results show a low prevalence of collagen VII-specific autoantibodies in ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn's disease (CD), pemphigus (PV) and bullous pemphigoid (BP). Furthermore, we show that the autoimmune response against collagen VII is dominated by IgG4 autoantibodies. The new immunoassay should prove a useful tool for clinical and translational research and should improve the routine diagnosis and disease monitoring in diseases associated with collagen VII-specific autoimmunity.
