Women develop the antibody more often than men, but it is not known why. It is also not known what causes the antibody to appear in the first place. Two different theories explain why people develop the antiphospholipid antibody. The first is that an infection causes people to make the antibody but that nothing happens until something else, such as an injury or another infection, triggers the disease.
The second theory states that the antiphospholipid antibody is normally present in the body in small quantities and is used to remove old and dying cells. People with APS may make too much of the antibody or may make an abnormal antibody.
Or, in some cases, it may be that the b2GP1 that ties aPL to the targeted irritated cells is abnormal. In some APS patients, it may be that the cells which are irritated are the underlying problem and the aPL antibodies are trying unsuccessfully to correct the situation.
Although blood clotting is the chief health risk of APS, in pregnant women the antibody damages the placenta, starving the fetus by cutting off the blood supply that feeds it. Even with better fetal survival rates and heparin treatment, pregnancies are not always normal in people with APS.
Although a normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks producing babies bigger than 6 pounds , in APS, premature deliveries 30 to 35 weeks, with babies weighing between 3 to 5 pounds regularly occur.
Once born, however, the babies do fine. Mouse models can be used to study the antibody. New studies in mice suggest that different forms of treatment that focus on the complement system a part of the immune system that amplifies its abilities under certain conditions and other processes — rather than on clotting — may be more effective.
HSS rheumatologist Dr. Jane Salmon is a leader in this work. Warfarin Coumadin can prevent blood clots. This medication is commonly used for people with strokes and heart attacks.
Aspirin and hydroxychloroquine Plaquenil may help. The new, oral anticoagulant drugs rivaroxaban [Xarelto] and apixaban [Eliquis] do not work, and should not be used. In serious cases, an experimental therapy, intravenous immunoglobulin, is helpful.
It is life-threatening and demands immediate in-hospital treatment. This article describes this illness and its treatment. Doctors used to think so, but now it is pretty clear that there is no correlation between APS and hardening of the arteries. The answer is yes in a small number of patients. It is not clear why this happens. Scientists are looking into this.
So far, researchers have been able to produce the antibody by certain infections only in mice. It is not known why. There are good treatments for antiphospholipid syndrome, but better ones are needed. Doctors can prevent blood clots in people at risk, but we would like to do so in a much safer and more effective fashion than we can right now.
Your test results may not mean you have a problem. Ask your healthcare provider what your test results mean for you. The test results will show whether lupus anticoagulant antibodies are present in the blood. If your test shows they are, the test should be repeated in several weeks to confirm. If you have lupus or another autoimmune disease, and the test results are negative, your healthcare provider may want to repeat the test at a later date to determine if the anticoagulant antibodies have begun to develop.
The test is done with a blood sample. A needle is used to draw blood from a vein in your arm or hand. Having a blood test with a needle carries some risks. These include bleeding, infection, bruising, and feeling lightheaded.
When the needle pricks your arm or hand, you may feel a slight sting or pain. Afterward, the site may be sore. Your blood sample should be collected before you begin taking anticoagulation medicines, because they can alter the results. Tell your healthcare provider if you are taking any other medicines because they might interfere with your test results. Infection or cancer, can also affect your test results.
The other two were the lupus anticoagulant and anticardiolipin antibody. In the late s, it was found that an antibody present in some lupus patients prolonged a clotting test dependent on phospholipids. For this reason, it was thought that this antibody increased the tendency to bleed, and thus it was deemed the lupus anticoagulant. However, this name is now recognized as a misnomer for two reasons. Tests called coagulation tests are used to detect the lupus anticoagulant LA.
Remember that even though the lupus anticoagulant causes the blood to clot more easily in vivo i. Therefore, if it takes more time than normal for the blood to clot, the lupus anticoagulant is usually suspected. Normally, two of these tests the apt and the RVVT are performed to detect whether lupus anticoagulant is present.
Even though the false-positive syphilis test and the lupus anticoagulant were identified in the s, the link between these entities was not investigated until the s, when a researcher at the Graham Hughes laboratory in Britain named Nigel Harris began looking at antibodies to the phospholipid antigens.
Harris realized that cardiolipin was a major element of the false-positive syphilis test, and he developed a more specific test for the antibody. He also determined that the presence of these anticardiolipin antibodies was associated with recurrent thromboses blood clots and pregnancy losses.
In fact, what we now know as antiphospholipid syndrome was known as the anticardiolipin syndrome even though other antiphospholipids, namely the lupus anticoagulant, were known to produce similar effects. IgG is the anticardiolipin antibody type most associated with complications. One can test for all isotypes at once, or they can be detected separately.
Beta2 glycoprotein 1 is the protein in the body to which anticardiolipin antibodies bind, and it is also possible to measure antibodies to beta2 glycoprotein 1. All information contained within the Johns Hopkins Lupus Center website is intended for educational purposes only.
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