Autoantibodies against oxidized low-density lipoprotein and lipid profile in patients with chronic periaortitis: case–control study

Chronic periaortitis is thought to result from an autoallergic reaction to oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL). No data exist on lipid profile and atherosclerotic biomarkers. We investigated circulating levels of OxLDL and of anti-OxLDL (aOxLDL) antibodies in patients with chronic periaortitis using the cross-sectional case–control study on 20 patients with chronic periaortitis. Patients were compared to 20 age- and sex-matched controls. aOxLDL antibodies were measured by ELISA and expressed as mean optical density values at 450 nm from duplicate measurements (OD450). aOxLDL antibody titers (median [interquartile range]) did not differ significantly between patients and controls (aOxLDL-IgM: 0.70 [0.24–1.08] vs. 0.54 [0.25–0.73] OD450; aOxLDL-IgG: 0.59 [0.38–0.75] vs. 0.41[0.33–0.63]OD450). Female patients had higher aOxLDL-IgM levels than male patients (1.02 [0.46–1.38] vs. 0.29 [0.22–0.84] OD450; P = 0.05). aOxLDL-IgM titers were lower in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) than in patients without CVD (0.22 [0.16–0.37] vs. 0.92 [0.70–1.30] OD450; P = 0.003) and correlated positively with HDL-cholesterol (r = 0.47, 95% CI 0.02–0.69; P = 0.03) and inversely with diastolic blood pressure (r = −0.46, 95% CI −0.75 to −0.01; P = 0.03) and OxLDL/apoB ratio (r = −0.41, 95% CI −0.73 to 0.04; P = 0.06). No differences or associations were found between aOxLDL-IgG titers and other variables between or within patients and/or controls. In patients OxLDL levels correlated with smoking pack-years (r = 0.58, 95% CI 0.17–0.81; P = 0.007). Data suggest a differing innate immune response to OxLDL in patients with chronic periaortitis compared to controls. Whether this response is causally related to chronic periaortitis development remains to be clarified.