Anti-myeloperoxidase antibodies: immunological characteristics and clinical associations.

Antibodies directed against myeloperoxidase (anti-MPO) were detected, using a solid-phase ELISA and purified sputum myeloperoxidase as the substrate, in 54 sera from 22 patients. Anti-MPO were present in 17 patients with crescentic glomerulonephritis (CGN), Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) and microscopic polyarteritis (MPA), and thus are associated with different forms of vasculitis. Anti-MPO were also present in five out of 20 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Anti-MPO activity in SLE sera was low, in contrast to the high titers observed in patients with vasculitis. All positive sera had IgG anti-MPO (except two SLE sera) and most of them also contained low-titered IgM anti-MPO. Only three patients had high IgM anti-MPO activities, the significance of which remains to be determined. In patients with CGN, WG or MPA, the anti-MPO titer decreased following therapy and paralleled the disease activity. Thus, anti-MPO constitute a useful diagnostic tool and a sensitive marker of disease activity in this group of patients with vasculitis.