ANTICENTROMERE ANTIBODY - CLINICAL ASSOCIATIONS - A STUDY OF 44 PATIENTS

The objective of this study was to determine the clinical features of 44 patients with anticentromere antibody (ACA) positivity. We undertoo k a retrospective review of 44 ACA-positive patients (1 male and 43 fe males with a mean +/-SD age of 53.6+/-12.2 years). There were 25 patie nts with limited systemic sclerosis, 12 with Raynaud's disease, 2 with Sjogren's syndrome, 2 with systemic lupus erythematosus and 3 with po lyarthritis. ACA was more frequently found in patients affected by lim ited systemic sclerosis with mild visceral involvement and in patients with Raynaud's disease. Moreover, ACA was detected in other connectiv e tissue diseases that were characterized by an atypical autoantibody profile.