Bronchial asthma is not associated with auto-antibodies to lipocortin-1

Corticosteroids may mediate some of their anti-inflammatory action by the induction of lipocortin-1, which inhibits phospholipase A2 activity. Raised levels of antibodies to lipocortin have been found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and it has been postulated that these may contribute to steroid resistance. A proportion of asthmatic patients fail to respond to treatment with corticosteroids and one possible mechanism is that these patients have raised levels of anti-lipocortin antibodies. We have therefore measured IgG and IgM antibodies to lipocortin by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in eight corticosteroid-sensitive (CS) and 7 corticosteroid-resistant (CR) asthmatic subjects, and in eight normal controls. Comparison of asthmatic subjects with normal controls revealed no significant differences in either IgG or IgM antibodies to lipocortin. Comparison of CS asthmatic subjects with CR asthmatic subjects similarly revealed no significant differences in the concentration of either IgG or IgM antibodies to lipocortin. Levels of anti-lipocortin antibodies did not correlate with clinical response to treatment with 40 mg/day of prednisolone. Anti-lipocortin antibodies are unlikely to be involved in the inflammation seen in asthma, or in the relative insensitivity to corticosteroids seen in CR asthmatic subjects.