The presence of anti-nuclear antibodies alone is associated with changes in B cell activation and T follicular helper cells similar to those in systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease

Table 1 Study participant characteristics

	HC	Asymptomatic	UCTD	SARD
	ANA⁻ N = 32	ANA⁺ N = 61	N = 35	Total N = 59	SSc N = 19	SLE N = 10	SjD N = 28	DM/MCTD N = 2
Sex: n Female (%)	29 (91)	59 (97)	33 (94)	55 (93)	17 (89)	10 (100)	26 (93)	2 (100)
Age: mean ± SD	35.1 ± 11.8	44.1 ± 13.9 ^a	46.5 ± 16.3	50.7 ± 13.7	55.1 ± 12.9	37.3 ± 10.9	53.0 ± 12.3	44
Anti-malarials: n (%)	0 (0)	5 (8.2)	8 (22.8)	5 (8.5)	1 (5.3)	2 (20)	2 (7.1)	0 (0)
Ethnicity: n Caucasian (%)	12 (37.5)	36 (59.0)	24 (68.6)	39 (66.1)	13 (68.4)	5 (50)	20 (71.4)	1 (50)
Family history: n (%)^b	1 (3.1)	15 (25.9)	7 (21.9)	15 (26.8)	4 (23.5)	1 (11.1)	9 (31.2)	1 (50)
ANA titer: median	N/A	1/640^c	1/640^c	> 1/640	> 1/640	> 1/640	1/640	> 1/640
Number of Abs: Mean ± SD	N/A	0.74 ± 1.05^c	0.94 ± 1.17^c	1.92 ± 1.32	1.32 ± 0.80	2.7 ± 2.45	2.04 ± 0.63	2.5

Abbreviations: HC healthy control, ANA anti-nuclear antibody, UCTD undifferentiated connective tissue disease, SARD systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease, SSc systemic sclerosis, SLE systemic lupus erythematosus, SjD Sjogren’s disease, DM/MCTD dermatomyositis or mixed connective tissue disease, N number, SD standard deviation, Abs antibodies
^aValues significantly (p < 0.05) different from ANA⁻ HC are in bold
^bFamily history of SARD or rheumatoid arthritis. Percentages are presented as a proportion of those whose family history is known
^cSignificantly (p < 0.05) different from SARD

ISSN: 1478-6362