IMMUNOLOGY OF ANTIPHOSPHOLIPID ANTIBODIES AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH PLASMA-PROTEINS

'Antiphospholipid' (aPL) antibodies are of clinical importance because of their strong association with vascular thrombosis, recurrent pregn ancy loss, thrombocytopenia and other clinical manifestations like liv edo reticularis, chorea and cardiac valvular disease(1). While aPL ant ibodies have traditionally been thought to be directed against negativ ely-charged (anionic) phospholipids, current evidence suggests that th ese autoantibodies recognise protein-phospholipid complexes or the pro teins themselves(2-4). A number of candidate proteins have been invest igated with the two most extensively researched being beta(2)-glycopro tein I and prothrombin.