Les anticorps anti-cytoplasme des polynucléaires neutrophiles (ANCA) en pneumologie

Summary Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) are classical serological markers of small-vessels vasculitis. However, they have been described in many others pathological situations. The aim of our study was to determinate clinical usefulness of ANCA in pulmonary institute. Forty-three out of 1070 (4%) patients have positives ANCA by indirect immunofluorescence. Only 24% of patients have small vessels vasculitis. ANCA are targeting the bactericidal-permeability-increasing-protein (BPI) in mainly cases. In our study, ANCA are mainly linked to chronic airway infections such as cystic fibrosis and bronchectases in which they may have long exposure to Gram-negative bacteria. Indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) remains the most widely used technique for ANCA detection. All samples positives by immunofluorescence should have specificity confirmed by Elisa.