This may also be a possible explanation for the discrepancies of our study with previous studies
This may also be a possible explanation for the discrepancies of our study with previous studies. can be used for future research purposes and will aid in uniform reporting of -PLG status of patients. == Introduction == Recently, the presence of anti-plasminogen antibodies (-PLG) in patients with anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) received much attention, especially in relation to the nature and severity of renal lesions.[13] These antibodies inhibit fibrinolysis by disturbing the conversion of plasminogen (PLG) to plasmin.[1,2] A study on patients with AAV showed that patients with -PLG had significantly more glomerular fibrinoid necrosis accompanied by worse renal function.[2] Evidently, the presence of -PLG in AAV may be an important hallmark for a specific phenotype of the disease.[2,3] Three important studies on -PLG in AAV reported differences in the proportion of -PLG positive AAV patients ranging between 22%-43% for proteinase-3 (PR3)-AAV and 6%-27% for myeloperoxidase (MPO)-AAV.[13] It is possible that differences in -PLG assays were to some extent responsible for these discrepant results. We therefore optimized the method for -PLG Enzyme-Linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA) and with this new assay, we validated the presence of -PLG in AAV. == Materials and methods == == Positive controls == Eleven positive controls were derived from the studies of Bautzet al. and Berdenet al.[1,2] These positive samples consisted of serum or plasma exchange (PEX) fluid. These patients had the following ANCA-specificities: 5 MPO-ANCA, 5 PR3-ANCA and 1 ANCA unfavorable. These were detected with WIESLAB MPO-ANCA / MPO IU, WIESLAB Capture MPO-ANCA / CAP MPO IU, WIESLAB PR3-ANCA / PR3 IU PNU-120596 and WIESLAB Capture PR3-ANCA / CAP PR3 IU (Euro Diagnostica, Malm, Sweden). Patients had been diagnosed with AAV according to the 2012 revised International Chapel Hill Consensus Conference Nomenclature of Vasculitides.[4] == Healthy and disease controls == Samples from 220 healthy controls were used during the different steps for optimizing the assay. Samples of 157 disease controls were used. Of these samples 77 were anti-beta-2 glycoprotein 1 (2GP1) positive, which is an autoantibody found in systemic lupus erythematosus and anti-phospholipid syndrome.[5] The remaining 80 samples were positive for anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides (CCP), which is an autoantibody found in rheumatoid arthritis.[6] Samples from healthy and disease controls were collected at Euro Diagnostica, Malm, Sweden. == ANCA samples == For setting-up and optimizing the -PLG assay 104 randomly selected samples of patients with ANCA positivity were used. Samples were not selected with respect to disease state. Of these samples 55 were PR3-ANCA positive and 49 were MPO-ANCA positive. These samples were collected at Euro Diagnostica, Malm, Sweden. ANCA specificity of each PNU-120596 patient was decided using WIESLAB MPO-ANCA / MPO IU, WIESLAB Capture MPO-ANCA / CAP MPO IU, WIESLAB PR3-ANCA / PR3 IU and WIESLAB Capture PR3-ANCA / CAP PR3 IU (Euro Diagnostica, Malm, Sweden). The use of the samples in this study was approved by the Lund University Rabbit polyclonal to DARPP-32.DARPP-32 a member of the protein phosphatase inhibitor 1 family.A dopamine-and cyclic AMP-regulated neuronal phosphoprotein. ethics committee. All patients gave written informed consent to store samples for future development of analytical methods for the purpose of hospital care and treatment or comparable activity. This study was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and subsequent amendments. This study was also performed according to the ‘Netherlands Code PNU-120596 of Conduct for Scientific Practice’, an ethical code for performing observational studies with patient material approved by the Federatie van Medisch Wetenschappelijke Verenigingen (Federation of Medical Scientific Organisations) together with the legal and ethical committee of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Royal Dutch Academy of Science) and the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research)..