The Turkish Journal of Pediatrics
2010 , Vol 52 , Num 4
Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of cystic fibrosis patients and patients with idiopathic bronchiectasis
Units of 1Pediatric Pulmonary Diseases, and 2Pediatric Nephrology and Rheumatology, Department of Pediatrics,
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
We investigated the presence of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)
in the serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of 21 cystic fibrosis
(CF), 7 idiopathic bronchiectasis (IBR), and 11 control children and the relation
between ANCA and any bacteria grown in BALF. Six of the CFs, but none
of the IBRs or controls had positive serum cytoplasmic or perinuclear-ANCA
(c-ANCA, p-ANCA). Serum autoantibodies against bactericidal/permeability
increasing protein (BPI-ANCA) were positive in 2 CFs, 1 IBR and 1 control.
While none of the CFs, IBRs or controls had positive BALF (c- or p-ANCA), 1
CF, 1 IBR and none of the controls had positive BALF BPI-ANCA. Pseudomonas
aeruginosa was not grown in the specimens of any of the subjects. As the
number of the patients in our study was very limited, further longitudinal
and well-designed studies are necessary to show whether or not the presence
of ANCA in serum or BALF relates to the presence of P. aeruginosa infection
in the airways of CF and IBR patients.
Keywords :
bactericidal/permeability increasing protein-ANCA, cystic fibrosis,
bronchiectasis, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.