Demographic associations for autoantibodies in disease-free individuals of a European population

Abstract

The presence of autoantibodies usually precedes autoimmune disease, but is sometimes considered an incidental finding with no clinical relevance. The prevalence of immune-mediated diseases was studied in a group of individuals from the Estonian Genome Project (n = 51,862), and 6 clinically significant autoantibodies were detected in a subgroup of 994 (auto)immune-mediated disease-free individuals. The overall prevalence of individuals with immune-mediated diseases in the primary cohort was 30.1%. Similarly, 23.6% of the participants in the disease-free subgroup were seropositive for at least one autoantibody. Several phenotypic parameters were associated with autoantibodies. The results suggest that (i) immune-mediated diseases are diagnosed in nearly one-third of a random European population, (ii) 6 common autoantibodies are detectable in almost one-third of individuals without diagnosed autoimmune diseases, (iii) tissue non-specific autoantibodies, especially at high levels, may reflect preclinical disease in symptom-free individuals, and (iv) the incidental positivity of anti-TPO in men with positive familial anamnesis of maternal autoimmune disease deserves further medical attention. These results encourage physicians to evaluate autoantibodies in addition to treating a variety of patient health complaints to detect autoimmune-mediated disease early.

Population-based estimates of humoral autoimmunity from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 1960–2014

“…Thus, the NHANES data, although based on a limited number of autoantibodies, directly challenge assertions that autoantibodies are uncommon. In retrospect, these findings should not come as a surprise because, historically, both at the inception of early humoral autoimmunity studies and periodically thereafter, small-scale surveys using differing laboratory methodologies have shown similar results [71][72][73].…”

Immunological history governs human stem cell memory CD4 heterogeneity via the Wnt signaling pathway

“…This observed age-associated decline in TCF-1 expression and decoupling with SLAMF-6 expression could reflect perturbations within the extended Wnt-dependent regulatory network that governs T SCM homeostasis. Such disturbances include an increased frequencies of autoantibodiesindirect predictors of signaling activity and immune response 43,44 -against several protein targets that act in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway with age (n = 60 and n = 93 for young and older donors, respectively), including CTTNB1 (p < 0.0001), GSK3B (p < 0.01), TCF-4 (p < 0.01), LEF1 (p < 0.01), IRF4 (p = 0.05), HDAC1 (p < 0.0001), and HDAC3 (p = 0.0064) ( Fig. 5d; Supplementary Fig.…”

Immune System Sex Differences May Bridge the Gap Between Sex and Gender in Fibromyalgia

“…Also, the autoimmune response may be cellular rather than humoral. A conceptual or interpretation issue are prodromal autoantibodies; tissue destruction mediated by prodromal autoantibodies remains asymptomatic until the overcapacity of the targeted organ has been lost (Arbuckle et al, 2003;Hayashi et al, 2008;Haller-Kikkatalo et al, 2017). During the prodromal period, autoantibodies run the risk to be interpreted as false positives.…”