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Antibodies with low specificity high rheumatoid factor associated with infective endocarditis
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Clinicians treating patients with infective endocarditis should be aware of antibodies with low specificity as well as signs of multifocal endocarditis and high rheumatoid factors to differentiate infective endocarditis from other autoimmune diseases, according to research published in the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology.
“Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of several biomarkers of autoimmunity in patients with definite infective endocarditis,” the authors wrote, adding that they also examined whether the biomarkers could be associated with the development of an in-hospital pulmonary thromboembolism, stroke or death.
Of 19 patients with definite symptoms of infective endocarditis (IE), rheumatoid factor was present in 68% of cases. Anticardiolipin/IgG antibodies present in 58%, anticardiolipin/IgM in 47% and antinuclear antibodies in 47% of cases, according to the study.
Highly specific antibodies — with the exception of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides in one patient — were not present. Both high rheumatoid factor and multifocal endocarditis were found to be associated with in-hospital mortality, researchers wrote.
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