Serum antibodies to native (tropo) and denatured (alpha) elastins appear to correlate with the production and breakdown respectively of elastic tissue. Elastin may be degraded as a part of autoimmune diseases. This possibility was tested by measuring IgG antibodies to tropo- and alpha-elastins by ELISA in the sera of 111 patients with a variety of connective tissue diseases compared with 18 healthy individuals. Anti-alpha-elastin antibodies were significantly higher in sera from 18 scleroderma patients than from healthy controls (p less than 0.008). Conversely, anti-tropoelastin antibody levels for scleroderma patients (p less than 0.03) and for patients with a variety of other connective tissue diseases (p less than 0.02) were lower than in healthy controls. Low antibody levels to native elastin and high levels of antibodies to denatured elastin suggest a low synthesis: degradation ratio for elastin in scleroderma. Scleroderma may be a unique model for elastin turnover because of its heretofore unrecognized accelerated elastolysis.
Adolescent Adult