Anti-ribosomal P antibodies are associated with elevated circulating IFNα and IL-10 levels in systemic lupus erythematosus patients

• Published in: Lupus Vol. 23; no. 14; pp. 1477 - 1485
• Main Authors: Mozo, L, López, P, Caminal-Montero, L, Rodríguez-Carrio, J, Suárez, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.12.2014
• Subjects: Adult; Antibodies, Antinuclear; Autoantibodies - blood; Complement System Proteins - metabolism; DNA - immunology; Early Diagnosis; Female; Humans; Interferon-alpha - blood; Interleukin-10 - blood; Leukopenia - blood; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - blood; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic - diagnosis; Male; Middle Aged; Ribosomal Proteins - immunology; Severity of Illness Index; disease activity; IFNα; SLE; IL-10; Anti-ribosomal protein (RibP) antibodies; anti-dsDNA
• ISSN: 0961-2033; 1477-0962
• DOI: 10.1177/0961203314546020

Objective The objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship of anti-protein ribosomal P (RibP) antibodies with circulating levels of IFNα, TNFα, IFNγ, IL-17 and IL-10 in SLE. Disease activity and other systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) features were also analyzed. Methods Anti-RibP and other SLE-related antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were determined by fluoro-enzyme immunoassay in the sera of 107 SLE patients. Circulating cytokines were quantified by flow cytometry (IFNα, IL-10 and IL-17) or ELISA (TNFα and IFNγ). Results Anti-RibP-positive patients (14.9%) displayed significantly higher serum levels of IFNα (p = 0.023) and IL-10 (p = 0.016) than their negative counterparts. This cytokine upregulation was independent of the presence of other ANA even though, in our patient cohort, anti-dsDNA was found to be associated with anti-RibP (OR, CI 95%: 6.03, 1.32–27.93, p = 0.021) and to correlate with IL-10 levels (r = 0.204, p = 0.036). In fact, patients positive for anti-RibP but negative for anti-dsDNA exhibited the highest amounts of both IL-10 and IFN-α that were not related to disease activity since these patients showed lower SLEDAI than patients also positive for anti-dsDNA (p = 0.018). Anti-RibP positivity was also associated with early diagnosis, hypocomplementemia and leukopenia. Conclusions Presence of anti-RibP was found to be related to increased serum IFNα and IL-10 levels independently of both antibody status and disease activity.