AUTOANTIBODIES TO GANGLIOSIDE GM3 AND SEROTONIN IN SERUM OF PATIENTS WITH ATHEROSCLEROSIS

To investigate antibodies to gangliosides and serotonin, sera from 17 patients with atherosclerosis and 13 healthy donors were tested by ELI SA. GM3 from human liver (GM3-1) and aorta (GM3-a), GM2, GM1, GT1b, an d cerebrosides from human brain, and conjugate of serotonin (5-HT) wit h bovine serum albumin were used as antigens. Significantly detectable levels of antibodies to GM3-1 were present in sera of healthy donors. ;Sera of patients had increased levels of antibodies to GM3-1 and 5-HT (by 82 and 71%, respectively) versus control. Patients with high exte nt of occlusion of coronary blood vessels had the highest contents of antibodies to these antigens. Correlation between levels of antibodies to GM3-1 and 5-HT was observed in the serum of all patients (r = 0.60 , p < 0.01). Antibodies to GM3-a and GT Ib were absent from normal ser a but were detected in sera of three patients whose sera had the highe st level of antibodies to GM3-1. These sera were almost unreactive to gangliosides GM1 and GM2 and cerebrosides from human brain. These data indicate that antibodies to gangliosides of aorta smooth muscle cells , for instance to aorta hematoside, appear in the serum of patients wi th atherosclerosis. We suggest that antibodies to GM3-1 are produced a gainst gangliosides of blood clot in serum of patients with atheroscle rosis because the fatty acid composition of hematosides from human liv er and platelets are identical.