Comparative analysis of the serum level of autoantibodies as a diagnostic tool of myocardial inflammatory diseases

Abstract

Aim. To assess whether the serum levels of autoantibodies (auto-Abs) interacting with myocardial and vascular wall antigens might be used for the differential diagnosis of myocardial inflammatory diseases.Subjects and methods. Seventeen patients with morphologically documented myocarditis were examined. A comparison group comprised 9 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A control group included 18 apparently healthy individuals and 8 patients with chronic erosive gastritis (CEG). Serum auto-Abs levels were estimated by the ELI test systems standardized for enzyme immunoassay. Results. The individual profiles that reflect relative changes in the levels of 16 study auto-Abs and characterize the integral autoreactivity of a patient have clear intergroup differences. Using the profiles of auto-Abs could confirm the diagnosis of myocarditis in 94% of cases or assign the patient to a group of apparently healthy individuals. The informative value of the method in patients with AMI and CEG was 81.8 and 87.5%, respectively. Conclusion. The proposed method may be used for the noninvasive screening diagnosis of myocardial inflammatory diseases.

Keywords

• autoantibody profile
• diagnosis of myocarditis