[Presence of the antinuclear antibodies and antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi among patients with morphea en plaque, deep linear scleroderma and atrophoderma Pasini-Pierini].

Circumscribed scleroderma belongs to the groups of the diseases characterized by fibrosis of the skin and the deeper tissue. According to the published data, 47% to 76% patients with circumscribed scleroderma present antinuclear antibodies (ANA) as well as antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi which is believed to be causative factor of the disease. The study was conducted in the group of 50 consecutive patients with circumscribed sclerosis (en plaque, deep linear, atrophoderma Pasini-Pierini). Antinuclear antibodies were detected in 18% of the patients in the titer of 1:40 to 1:320. There was statistically significant correlation between activity of the disease and extensiveness of the skin lesions as well as location on the lower extremities although there was no correlation to the clinical symptoms of the disease. In 28.5% of the patients we found antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi with any correlation to the type of localized scleroderma or its activity. The role of the ANA with no distinctive specificity and antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in the localized scleroderma is still unclear.