Antibody response to selected Yersinia enterocolitica antigens in synovial fluid of patients with chronic arthropaties.

LACOSTE, MARIA GABRIELA; DAVE, MABEL; TAMASHIRO, HECTOR; BLAS, RODRIGO; LAVANCHI, ALICIA; LARREA, CLAUDIO; CAÑUELLAS, ADRIANA; RUIZ, BIBIANA; RAMIS, ERICA; DI GENARO, MARIA SILVIA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; First French - Argentine Immunology Congress; 2010

Sociedad Argentina de Inmunologia y sociedad Francesa de Inmunologia

Yersinia enterocolitica is an important causative agent of enteric infections in humans. Infections have been implicated in the pathogenesis of a number of autoimmune diseases. The mechanisms of Yersinia-triggered arthritis are unknown. We studied the frequency of anti-Yersinia antibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthropathies (SpA). The IgA against the whole bacteria disrupted by sonication (SO), outer membrane proteins (OMP), cytoplasmic proteins (CIT), lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and culture supernatant proteins (SN) in synovial fluids (SF) were studied by ELISA. We also investigated antibodies (IgM, IgG e IgA) against Yersinia outer proteins (Yops) by Western blot. We correlated the response to Yersinia antigens with anti-type I and II collagen antibodies. IFN-ã, IL-17, IL-23(p40/19), IL-1â and IL-9 were assayed by ELISA in SF. IgA to several antigenic preparations of Yersinia were found in SF. In RA, 11/57 (19%), 4/36 (11%), 11/36 (31%), 10/57 (17%) and 13/57 (23%) SF were positive when SO, OMP, CIT, SN and LPS were used, respectively. In SpA, 1/15 (7%), 1/10 (10%), 1/10 (10%), 0/10 (0%) and 3/15 (20%) SF were positive when SO, OMP, CIT, SN and LPS were used, respectively. After Western blot, the positivity for Yops in patients with AR was 10/57 (17,5%). We found a significant correlation between IgA antibodies against all Yersinia antigens and antibodies to type I collagen (p<0,05), and between all IgA antibodies but anti-LPS and type II collagen (p<0,05). On the other hand, we found a significant correlation only between SN and IL-1â (p<0,05). We concluded that Yersinia is associated with arthropathies in our population. We found a significant correlation between IgA to Yersinia and antibodies to type I and type II collagen, supporting the relation between mucosal infection and joint disease.We also found significant correlation between response to SN and IL-1â, a cytokine that amplifies and perpetuates the disease process in RA.