To evaluate the novel assay, laboratory A examined sera from North American patients with clinically and pathologically diagnosed definite sIBM (n = 17), suspected sIBM (n = 14), myositis controls (n = 110), non-myositis autoimmune controls (n = 93) and healthy subjects (n = 52).
Thirty-six patients with other autoimmune diseases served as autoimmune controls.
The sera from SLE patients represented in panel 1 with clinical, serological and demographic data, as well as the autoimmune controls, were tested for autoantibodies to histones (cutoff 30 U/ml), dsDNA (cutoff 55 U/ml) and the Sm complex (cutoff 15 U/ml, or ratio 1) using quantitative ELISA tests (Varelisa®; Pharmacia Diagnostics; catalog nos 14196, 16296 and 16496).
In NZBxNZWF1mice, but not in non-autoimmune control (BALB/c) mice, early submandibular salivary gland lesions were characterized by infiltration of mononuclear cells around vessels and ducts in the interstitial tissues, increasing with age.
Autoreactive B cells were able to form/enter splenic follicles in lupus prone mice, but were retained outside follicles in the T cell zone of non-autoimmune control mice.
The CD4loCD40+ T cells, which we termed Th40 cells, are detected in diabetic and prediabetic NOD mice as well as in non-autoimmune controls [4], [15].
The OA SFs serve as non-inflammatory, non-autoimmune controls for the RA SFs.
There were no significant differences in allele frequencies between SLE cases and non-autoimmune controls in overall case-control analyses in African- and European-American ancestral backgrounds (Supplemental table S7 in Additional file 1).
In studies of large numbers of sera from patients with APS, autoimmune disease controls and healthy controls, anti-DI positivity enhances the ability to differentiate patients with APS from other groups (reviewed in Bertolaccini et al. [ 35]).
For autoimmune disease control and transplantation/graft acceptance, the opposite approach with careful enhancement of T regulatory function might well apply.
§Bronchiectasis (three controls), congenital thoracic deformity (one case, two controls), tracheal stenosis (two controls), pulmonary arterial hypertension (one case, three controls), systemic autoimmune disease (three controls), elective tracheostomy (one control).
