Data from: Autoantibody prevalence in active tuberculosis: reactive or pathognomonic?

Objectives: To evaluate the autoantibody in patients without corresponding
symptoms, whether these autoantibody are pathognomonic or not. We
hypothesised that autoantibody may be reactive to chronic infection, such
as tuberculosis (TB). Design: Randomised, case–control cohort study.
Setting: A tertiary centre in Taiwan. Participants: We randomly chose 100
patients out of the data bank of patients with TB in a tertiary medical
centre. All patients completed the sera sampling. We chose 100 patients
according to autoantibody prevalence in previous literature. We also chose
100 medical staff as control group. Interventions: We tested anti-SSA,
anti-SSB, anti-Sm, anti ribonucleoprotein, anti-Scl 70, anticentromere,
anti-double-stranded DNA, anticardiolipin IgG and IgM in all patient and
control groups. The clinical symptoms and the underlying disease were all
recorded. Primary and secondary outcome measures: The result of sera
antibody titre was recorded. For those with specific positive serology
results, following examination was carried out after a 3-month anti-TB
medication. Results: Anticardiolipin IgG titre was significantly higher in
patients with TB than in control group. We compared the result with
previous population study and found that anti-Scl70 is also significantly
higher in patients with TB. The following up data in anti-Scl70 revealed
decreased titre after treatment. No correlation between sera titre and
clinical conditions was observed. Conclusions: In TB endemic areas, a
significant proportion (32%) of patients with TB have elevated
autoantibody titres, especially anticardiolipin IgG and anti-Scl-70.
Mycobacterial studies should be performed in patients with elevated serum
autoantibody titres but without the typical or multiple manifestations of
autoimmune diseases. Trial registration: The study was approved by the
Institutional Review Board of the hospital (NTUH REC: 9561707008) after
informed consent had been obtained from the patients.