AUTOANTIBODY PROFILE IN THE SERA OF WOMEN WITH HYPERPROLACTINEMIA

Prolactin (PRL) has been implicated as an important in vivo modulator of cellular and humoral immunity. In order to elucidate the impact of elevated serum PRL levels on the immune system, we measured circulatin g autoantibodies in the serum of 33 hyperprolactinemic (HPRL) women an d in 19 healthy women with normal PRL levels. All sera were examined f or the presence of autoantibodies against 15 different antigens, inclu ding: ssDNA, dsDNA, histones (H2AH2B), Sm, RNP,SS-A/Ro, SS-B/La, cardi olipin, Scl-70, Jo1, collagen, glomerular basement membrane (GEM), pyr uvate dehydrogenase (PDH), proteinase-3 (PR3) and IMPO. Twenty-five of 33 (75.7%) HPRL women were found to have at least one autoantibody, w hile none of the 19 women with normal PRL had any. Eight HPRL women ha d seven or more (up to nine) different autoantibodies. Some of the aut oantibodies were more frequently expressed than others, namely: anti-s s-DNA, anti-dsDNA, anti-Sm, anti-PDH and anti-SS-A/Ro. Autoantibodies to the autoantigens tested are common in a variety of autoimmune and r heumatic disorders including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjogr en's syndrome, mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD), scleroderma, pr imary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), polymyositis/dermatomyositis and vascul itis. Yet none of the HPRL women whose serum was found to contain high titers of autoantibodies presented with symptoms related to the respe ctive autoimmune disorders. Our results support the role of PRL in the regulation of immune responses in man.