High-titer rheumatologic markers in serum of veterans with severe pulmonary complications 25-30 years after sulfur mustard exposure.

Sulfur mustard (SM), known as the "king of toxic agents," continues to pose a potential danger due to its ability to cause widespread damage, including ongoing corrosive effects. We aimed to determine the rheumatologic markers in SM veterans suffering from severe pulmonary manifestations. The serologic markers, including ANA, anti-DNA, rheumatoid factor (RF), and CRP, between SM-exposed veterans (n = 229) with severe problems and not-SM-exposed residents with no pulmonary disease history (n = 63), 25-30 years after SM exposure were compared. Moreover, SM-exposed veterans were divided into subgroups, including bronchiolitis obliterans, chronic bronchitis, and asthma, based on specialists' diagnoses, and all the data were compared among these clinical subgroups. Autoantibodies were assessed by standard indirect immunofluorescence and/or ELISA. The levels of serum hs-CRP were determined using an immunoturbidometry technique in both the patient and control groups. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software. Patients had significantly elevated ANA (P = 0.000), anti-DNA (P = 0.024), RF (P = 0.000), and CRP (P = 0.000) levels compared to the matched control group. These results indicate a possible autoimmune circumstance in this population and suggest the need to follow up the autoimmunity-related markers in all SM-exposed individuals, since they might be a valuable prognostic biomarker for stratifying patients for the future risk of autoimmunity development.