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Anti-interferon alpha antibodies and autoantibodies in patients with Behçet’s disease uveitis treated with recombinant human interferon alpha-2a

  • Inflammatory Disorders
  • Published:
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Abstract

Background

Recombinant human (rh) interferon alpha2a (IFN-α2a) therapy is successfully used for the treatment of Behçet’s disease (BD) uveitis refractory to conventional immunosuppressive treatment.

Purpose

Our aim in this study was to investigate the frequency and clinical significance of anti-IFN-α antibodies and autoantibodies during recombinant human rhIFN-α2a therapy in patients with BD uveitis.

Methods

This comparative, cross-sectional, serological screening study included 30 BD patients treated with rhIFN-α2a (Group 1), 29 BD patients treated with conventional immunosuppressive agents (Group 2), 29 BD patients who received only colchicine (Group 3), and 30 healthy subjects (Group 4). Anti-IFN-α–binding antibodies and autoantibodies, including anti-nuclear antibody, anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody, and anti-cardiolipin antibody, were measured in serum samples. Antibody seropositivity was compared between study groups. Retrospective clinical data were compared between antibody-positive and antibody-negative patients.

Results

A significantly higher proportion of patients in Group 1 had anti-interferon-α (26.6 %) and autoantibody (30 %) seropositivity compared to the other groups. No correlation was found between seropositivity for anti-interferon-α and other autoantibodies. No significant difference was found in cumulative dose of IFN-α, duration of IFN-α therapy, time to first uveitis attack, or attack rate between anti-interferon-α antibody-positive and antibody-negative patients in Group 1. Uveitis attacks were observed in 22 % of autoantibody-positive and 71 % of autoantibody-negative patients in Group 1 (p = 0.018).

Conclusions

Patients with BD uveitis develop anti-IFN-α–binding antibodies and autoantibodies during treatment with rhIFN-α2a. While the clinical relevance of anti-IFN-α–binding antibodies remains unclear in this study, induction of autoimmunity was found to be associated with a tendency for better therapeutic response.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr Nuray Gürel-Polat for her help in the conduction of laboratory tests and interpretation of test results.

Funding

This study was supported by the Istanbul University Research Funds (Project number: 17149).

Financial disclosures

Ilknur Tugal-Tutkun has received financial support outside the submitted work, including honorarium from IRIS (Institut de Recherches Internationales Servier) and travel grants from Novartis Turkey and Allergan Turkey.

Contributions of Authors

Design of the study (ITT, ÖAC); Conduct of the study (ITT,ÖAC, SB); Analysis (ÖAC,BAE); Interpretation of the data (ITT,ÖAC,BAE,AG,SB); preparation of the manuscript (ÖAC,BAE); Review of the manuscript (ITT,AG,SB).

Conflict of interest

The authors have no commercial associations that might be perceived as a conflict of interest with the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istanbul Faculty of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology, Istanbul University, Istanbul Tip Fakultesi, Goz Hastaliklari A.D. Capa, Istanbul, 34093, Turkey

    Özlem Aydinoglu-Candan, Bilge Araz-Erşan & Ilknur Tugal-Tutkun

  2. Istanbul Faculty of Medicine Department of Internal Medicine Division of Rheumatology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ahmet Gul

  3. Istanbul Faculty of Medicine Department of Microbiology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Selim Badur

Authors
  1. Özlem Aydinoglu-Candan
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  2. Bilge Araz-Erşan
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  3. Ahmet Gul
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  5. Ilknur Tugal-Tutkun
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Correspondence to Ilknur Tugal-Tutkun.

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Aydinoglu-Candan, Ö., Araz-Erşan, B., Gul, A. et al. Anti-interferon alpha antibodies and autoantibodies in patients with Behçet’s disease uveitis treated with recombinant human interferon alpha-2a. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 253, 457–465 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-014-2856-3

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