Autoantibody profile and clinical correlation in a group of patients with systemic sclerosis in southern Brazil.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the manifestations of systemic sclerosis (SSc), with an emphasis on the analysis of autoantibodies and their clinical correlations, in a population of patients followed up at the SSc Outpatient Clinics of the Hospital de Clínicas of the Universidade Federal do Paraná.

METHODOLOGY

Cross-sectional study with 96 patients followed up at the SSc Outpatient Clinics of the hospital between September 2007 and September 2009.

RESULTS

Most patients were of the female sex, in their forties or fifties, and the median time of disease was ten years. The limited cutaneous form of SSc was more prevalent. The analysis of the autoantibodies showed the association of anticentromere antibody (ACA) with the following: the limited form of SSc; more advanced age at the time of diagnosis; longer disease time; longer interval between the appearance of the Raynaud's phenomenon (RyP) and the first non-RyP symptom; systemic arterial hypertension (SAH); and cardiac conduction blocks. The antitopoisomerase-1 antibody (ATA-1, previously called anti-Scl-70) was more common in the presence of the diffuse form of SSc, active disease, and digital ulcers. The anti-RNA polymerase III antibody (anti-Pol III) correlated with the diffuse form of SSc, disease activity, and synovitis.

CONCLUSIONS

This study emphasizes and confirms the important role of autoantibodies in assessing patients with SSc, allowing the correlation between the autoimmune profile of patients with SSc and specific manifestations of the disease.