Autoantibodies to intermediate filaments in sera of patients with Schistosoma mansoni infection.

Autoantibodies to the intermediate filament proteins vimentin and keratin were studied in sera of 50 Caribbean patients with Schistosoma mansoni infection and 50 control subjects. Autoantibodies were detected by indirect immunofluorescence on HEp-2 cells pretreated with colchicine. The incidence of anti-vimentin antibodies in patients' sera was 94% for IgM, 12% for IgG, and 4% for IgA; in the control subjects incidence was 52%, 0%, and 4%, respectively. Anti-keratin antibodies were found in 82%, 4%, and 4% of patients' sera and 42%, 0%, and 2% in controls, respectively. The difference between the geometric means of titres for patients (1:150) and controls (1:26) was highly significant (P less than 0.001). The possible role and genesis of autoantibodies to intermediate filaments is discussed.