ANTIBODIES TO ENDOTHELIAL-CELLS IN BEHCETS-DISEASE - CELL-BINDING HETEROGENEITY AND ASSOCIATION WITH CLINICAL ACTIVITY

Objectives-To investigate the prevalence and characteristics of antibo dies to endothelial cells (aEC) from large vessel and from microvascul ature in a group of patients with Behcet's disease (BD) to determine t he relationship of these antibodies with clinical and laboratory featu res of the disease. Methods-Thirty patients with BD were prospectively and consecutively studied. The aEC were determined by enzyme-linked i mmunosorbent assay (ELISA) using endothelial cells derived from human umbilical vein (large vessel) as well as from retroperitoneal adipose tissue (microvasculature). Results-Fifteen patients (50%) had aEC, eit her directed to large vessel 8(26%) patients or microvascular 13(43 %) patients endothelial cells. The percentage of active patients was significantly higher in the aEC-positive group 12(80%) patients comp ared with the aEC-negative group 5(33%) patients (p < 0.05). Conclus ions-Patients with BD have a high prevalence of aEC when microvascular endothelial cells are used in the assay. These antibodies seem to be a marker of disease activity in this condition, previously considered as negative for autoantibodies.