[Heart antibodies in sarcoidosis]

By means of indicret immunofluorescence sera of 56 patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis of the x-ray stages I-III--among them 25 patients with additional heart involvement--were examined to detect heart antibodies. At all x-ray stages of pulmonary sarcoidosis muscle antibodies were identified. Patients who were treated with glucocorticosteroids showed more antibodies against heart musculature than those ones without therapy. By reason of the results of the indirect immunofluorescence no reliable differentiation was possible between a group with pulmonary sarcoidosis and a group with pulmonary sarcoidosis and additional heart involvement. Similar results could be obtained by use of both animal muscle antigen and human myocardiac antigen so that the use of human myocardiac tissue does not seem to be necessary in order to demonstrate antibodies in case of sarcoidosis. The frequency of the proof of antibodies against muscle antigen draws the attention to an early or systemic affection of the muscular system in sarcoidosis.