Anticentromere antibody and immunoglobulin allotypes in scleroderma.

Fifty-five unrelated whites with disorders in the scleroderma spectrum who had both antinuclear antibodies and Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) were studied. Of the 22 patients with anticentromere antibody (ACA), three had diffuse scleroderma; 16 had the complete or incomplete syndrome of calcinosis, RP, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasia (CREST syndrome); and three had RP only. Thirty-three patients with other nuclear patterns all had systemic scleroderma (28 diffuse scleroderma, five CREST syndrome). Patients with ACA had less organ system involvement, and lower frequencies of anemia and elevation of sedimentation rate than ACA-negative patients, but these differences were not statistically significant. They also had fewer manifestations of CREST syndrome. All 55 patients were studied for the Gm and Km allotypic markers. No association was found between Gm or Km allotypic markers and scleroderma or between the allotypic markers and the presence of ACA.