Autoantibodies in Patients with Fasciolosis

Abstract

Background: Antiself humoral immune responses have been detected not only in classical autoimmune dis­eases, but autoantibodies have also been found in sera of patients suffering from chronic parasitic dis­eases. We aimed to investigate the role of fasciolosis as a trigger factor of autoimmune reactivity by searching some anti­bodies related to hepatobiliary systems, in patients with fasciolosis.

Methods: Thirty-two patients (17 males, 15 females) with fasciolosis were included in this case-control study. Anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA) Screen (antigen mixture of dsDNA, histones, nRNP/Sm, Sm, SS-A, SS-B, Scl-70, Jo-1, ribosomal P-proteins, centromere) ELISA and single-antigen ELISAs for detection of some antibodies (dsDNA, Anti-M2, Anti- liver-kidney microsomes type 1 (LKM-1) and Myeloperoxidase (MPO) were carried out.

Results: ANA-screen, M-2, LKM-1, MPO and anti-dsDNA positivity were detected with ELISA in 7, 7, 4, 2 and 2 of 32 patients with fasciolosis, consecutively. No statistically significant difference was de­tected for any of the autoantibodies' frequency between patients with fasciolosis and control group. How­ever, autoantibody positivity rate was significantly higher in patients with fasciolosis (50 %) than control group (12.5 %). Absorbance values of all autoantibodies in patients with fasciolosis were statistically sig­nificant higher than controls.

Conclusion: These results lent support to the role of fasciolosis as a trigger factor of autoimmune reactiv­ity by the breakdown of tolerance. In spite of the extensive knowledge that has accumulated, the specific relationship be­tween fasciolosis and autoimmunity is still obscure.