Antiphospholipid antibody and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome

New details have been added to the description of the antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. These include quantitation of risk of stroke; delineation of an associated acute occlusive vasculopathy syndrome, including its pathology; increased awareness of the association of adrenal insufficiency with antiphospholipid antibody; new demonstration of placental pathology in cases of fetal death; and new details on the persistence or transience of antibody in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. There are several animal models for the antiphospholipid antibody syndrome. Assay standardization and reproducibility issues, more for the lupus anticoagulant than for the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for antiphospholipid antibody, remain as important barriers to progress. Antibody characteristics of activity, isotype, and subclass must be considered in assay interpretation; antigen characteristics of fatty acid chain and lipid phase are also important variables. Other circulating proteins may have clinical importance. Several laboratories have commented that antiphospholipid antibody interferes with protein C. A cofactor, apolipoprotein H, enhances binding of some antiphospholipid IgG antibodies. Other phospholipid-binding proteins are known. Isolation, purification, and perhaps cloning of many of these factors should lead to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of the syndrome.