Session Information
The 2020 Pediatric Rheumatology Symposium, originally scheduled for April 29 – May 2, was postponed due to COVID-19; therefore, abstracts were not presented as scheduled.
Date: Saturday, May 2, 2020
Session Title: Poster Session 3
Session Type: ACR Abstract Session
Session Time: 4:15PM-5:15PM
Background/Purpose: Autoantibodies to dense fine speckles 70 (DFS70) is now recognized to be more common among apparently healthy individuals compared to patients with ANA-related rheumatic disease (AARD). DFS70 autoantibodies has also been associated with milder rheumatic autoimmune disease and has a higher prevalence in young women implicating age-related hormonal alteration. Whether anti-DFS70 is a clinically relevant biomarker in autoinflammatory vasculopathies (AV) not well studied. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of anti-DFS70 in a spectrum of AV’s and whether anti-DFS70 has a clinically relevant correlation to patient demographic and clinical characteristics.
Methods: Patients diagnosed with AV by a rheumatologist (AF-M) in Calgary, Alberta, were enrolled in the Southern Alberta Vasculitis Patient Registry. Antibodies to proteinase 3 (PR3), myeloperoxidase (MPO), and DFS70 were detected by a chemiluminescence immunoassay. The association between anti-DFS70, diagnosis, age, sex, disease activity as assessed by Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score (BVAS) and disease duration was described.
Results: There were 146 AV patients, 7 (4.8%) of which had a positive anti-DFS70 antibody. This included 1/22 (4.5%) giant cell arteritis, 2/35 (5.7%) granulomatosis with polyangiitis, 1/10 (10.0%) Behçet disease, 1/7 (14.3%) microscopic polyangiitis, 1/1 (100%) eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, 1/6 (16.7%) IgA vasculitis. The mean age of patients with positive anti-DFS70 antibody was 57 years (standard deviation 46-83) with 57% being younger than 55-years-old. All patients were female. Sampling from diagnosis of disease ranged between 0-10 years, and BVAS was 0 in 6/7 patients and 2 in one patient.
Conclusion: The prevalence of anti-DFS70 autoantibodies in AV was rare (5%), similar to the frequency seen in other AARDs. Although the number of DFS70 positive patients were few, all patients were female with low disease activity.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Laestadius A, Choi M, Fritzler M, Fifi-Mah A, Benseler S, Dantas J. Anti-Dense Fine Speckled (DFS) Autoantibodies in Autoinflammatory Vasculopathies [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2020; 72 (suppl 4). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/anti-dense-fine-speckled-dfs-autoantibodies-in-autoinflammatory-vasculopathies/. Accessed March 28, 2023.« Back to 2020 Pediatric Rheumatology Symposium
ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/anti-dense-fine-speckled-dfs-autoantibodies-in-autoinflammatory-vasculopathies/