EVALUATION OF ANTINUCLEAR ANTIBODIES IN GEORGIAN ALLERGIC PATIENTS POLYSENSITIZED WITH CROSS REACTIVE ALLERGENS

Western countries have been challenged with an "allergy epidemic" during the last three to four decades. Interestingly, there has been a parallel increase in the incidence rates of several autoimmune disorders.The aim of our study was to evaluate antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in Georgian allergic patientspolysensitized with cross reactive allergens, in order to establish connection between allergic and autoimmune diseases in our population. Two groups of patients were included in the study: patients with atopy (group 1, n=97) and without (group 2, n=42).ImmunoCAPPhadiatop and ISAC assay platforms were used for atopy screening and polysensitization patterns evaluation. Screening for ANAs was performed by IIFA (Indirect Immunofluorescence assay) on HEp-2 cells. In general 67(69.1%) allergic patients were sensitized to at least one of the cross reactive allergen. Among allergic patients 26 (26.8%) tested positive for the presence of auto-antibodies; for non-allergic patient this value was only 1(2.4%). 18(26.9%) patients sensitized to cross reactive allergens showed positive results for ANA testing and 8(26.7%) allergic patient without cross allergen sensitization were positive for ANA. The AC-2 was only one detected pattern among non-atopic individuals (1/2.4%) and the most frequent pattern in allergic patients (19/73%). In the ANA positive group of allergic patients the atopic dermatitis (13/50%) and asthma (6/23.1%) were most frequently diagnosed. The occurrence of antinuclear antibodies is more frequent in atopic patients and associate mostly with asthma and atopic dermatitis phenotypes of allergic diseases. The most frequent coexisting ANA pattern is dense fine speckled pattern (AC-2).The occurrence of ANA antibody in atopic patients and its role in allergy remains the subject for future research.