Anti-NOR90 antibodies are usually found in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc); however, their clinical relevance remains obscure. We previously developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for measuring them to investigate the clinical features of patients with anti-NOR90 antibodies. As we additionally obtained anti-NOR90 antibody-positive serum samples after our previous research, we reexamined the clinical significance of anti-NOR90 antibodies. Serum samples from 1,296 patients with various conditions from Nagoya University Hospital were included. Anti-NOR90 antibodies were assayed by an ELISA using the recombinant protein produced by in vitro transcription/translation. Eight (0.6%) patients had anti-NOR90 antibodies. One patient with diffuse cutaneous SSc, 5 with limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc), and 2 with Raynaud’s disease were positive for anti-NOR90 antibodies. Anti-NOR90 antibodies were found more frequently in patients with systemic scleroderma-spectrum disorders (SSDs) than without SSDs (8/328 vs 0/968, P<0.00002) and were found more frequently in patients with SSc than without SSc (6/259 vs 0/544, P<0.002) in the systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease cohort. Among 6 anti-NOR90-positive patients with SSc, 4 had cancer and 3 had interstitial lung disease (ILD). Statistically significant difference in prevalence of neither cancer nor ILD was found between anti-NOR90-positive and -negative SSc patients, however, in the lcSSc patients, cancer (3/5 vs 28/147, P<0.058) was relatively frequently detected in the anti-NOR90-positive patients. Further research with a great number of sera with anti-NOR90 antibodies, especially from SSc patients, is needed to elucidate the clinical relevance of the antibodies to cancer and ILD in SSc patients.

ESDR140 - Clinical characteristics of systemic sclerosis patients with anti-NOR90 antibodies

The scientific meeting of the European Society for Dermatological Research (ESDR) is held yearly, usually in September. With an international attendance of more than 1000 skin scientists from around the globe, the four-day event includes short oral presentations from peer-reviewed abstracts, keynote lectures from international experts, sponsored symposia, satellite programs, educational events as well as an important focus on posters, networking and building collaborations amongst scientists. For more information about this year’s meeting visit our website.