ESTIMATION AND TO KNOW THE ASSOCIATION OF AUTOANTIBODIES WITH DERMATOLOGICAL DISORDERS IN PATIENTS ATTENDING DERMATOLOGY OUTPATIENT DEPARTMENT

Abstract

Background: The presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) is mainly associated with autoimmune diseases and connective tissue diseases (CTD). In addition, their presence is found in healthy people. While the actual frequency of positive assays in healthy individuals varies with methodology, nevertheless, up to 20% or more of otherwise healthy people can express an ANA. The basis of this seropositivity is puzzling. One possibility is that ANAreactivity represents vagaries of the assays, allowing the detection of antibodies of either low titer or low avidity. ANAand Anti double-stranded DNA (Anti-ds-DNA) antibodies in dermatological disorders other than CTD, and Vasculitis were not studied till now to our knowledge. Hence this study has been taken up. Aim: Estimation and to know the association, of autoantibodies with dermatological disorders, to better understand the diseases in patients attending the dermatology outpatient department (OPD). Objectives: 1. To nd out the percentage of positivity for ANAby the Indirect Immunouorescent Assay (IFA) method. 2. To nd out the percentage of positivity for anti-ds DNAantibodies by the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method. 3. Percentage of positivity of both ANAand Anti-ds DNAantibodies in patients with dermatological problems. 4. To know the association of autoimmunity with various dermatological disorders for a better understanding of these disorders. Materials & Methods: Ahundred patients were selected after taking written informed consent and after inclusion and exclusion criteria got fullled. Details of the patients were entered in the case record form and later were uploaded in a Microsoft excel sheet. One millilitre of the venous blood sample was drawn in adults of each of the age categories 18-27, 28-37, 38-47, and 48-57. The upper age limit of 57 is selected for the sake of convenience. Sera were analysed for ANAand Anti ds DNAantibodies by using IFAand ELISAmethods respectively. Results were recorded and analysed. Results: In a total of 100 patients 11% and 13% were positive for ANA and Anti ds DNA respectively. For ANA and Anti ds DNA positivity the mean age was 34.5 ± 12.5 and 40.7 ± 10.7 respectively and females outnumbered males in both. Both ANAand Anti ds DNAwere positive in 3% of which all were females with a mean age of 41 ± 9. ANA positivity was found commonly in Telogen efuvium (3), melasma (2), and Tinea (2). Anti-ds DNA positivity was found commonly in Miliaria Rubra (2), and Tinea (2). Both ANAand Anti ds DNA were positive in telogen efuvium, melasma and tinea. Conclusion:ANA, Anti ds DNA, both ANAand Anti ds DNAwere positive in otherwise healthy dermatological patients with diagnoses like telogen efuvium, melasma, tinea, miliaria etc., to the extent of 11%, 13%, and 3% respectively. It is not known if autoantibody positivity in these diseases is just a chance association or if the autoimmune mechanism got triggered by these diseases. Prospective longitudinal studies are necessary to conrm these nding