Copyright © 1995 by the European Society of Cardiology.
© 1995 The European Society of Cardiology
Organ-specific cardiac autoanfibodies in dilated cardiomyopathy
Frequency and clinical correlates in Polish patients
SKA*,
,
MIERCZYK-DROSZCZ*
YLLO*
*National Institute of Cardiolology Warsaw, Poland
Department of Cardiolology, University of Padua Italy
Department of Cardiological Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School London, U.K.
revised 3 March 1995; accepted 4 April 1995.
Correspondence: Z. T. Bili
ska, MD, Department of General Cardiology, National Institute of Cardiology, Alpejska 42, 04-628 Warsaw, Poland
Abstract
Organ- and disease-specific cardiac autoantibodies are found in a third of dilated cardiomyopathy patients from the U.K. and Italy and represent markers of autoimmune involvement. The role of autoimmunity may vary in dilated cardiomyopathy patients from different countries due to differences in genetic susceptibility to autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of organ-specific cardiac autoantibodies detected by immunofluorescence in a consecutive series of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and in disease and normal control subjects from Poland The study groups included 79 patients with idiopathic (WHO criteria) dilated cardiomyopathy, 55 patients with other cardiac disease and 60 normal subjects. Cardiac antibody tests were performed by indirect immunofluorescence on human heart, skeletal muscle was used to identify cross-reacting antibodies. The frequency of organ-specific cardiac autoantibodies was higher in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (21/79, 27%) than in controls with other cardiac disease (1/55, 2% P<0·001) or in normal subjects (7/60, 12% P<0·02). Conversely, cross-reactive antibodies were detected in similar proportions in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (5/79, 6%), disease controls (7/55, 13%) and normal subjects (6/60, 10%, P=ns). The organ-specific antibody was more common in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy with insidious onset of disease (17/34, 50%) compared to those who did not exhibit this feature (4/45, 9%, P<0·0001) Organ- and disease-specific cardiac autoantibodies were found in 27% of Polish patients with dilated cardiomyopathy at diagnosis; this is evidence for autoimmune involvement in a subset of patients from our country, as seen in a previously reported series of Western European origin. The association of antibody status with insidious onset of symptoms is in keeping with the long latency period observed in other autoimmune disorders.
Key Words: Myocardial disease—primary • cardiac autoantibodies • autoimmune disease