Antibody Response against Parvovirus in Patients with Inflammatory Rheumatological Diseases

Introduction: Some viral infections have been suggested to trigger or cause autoimmune diseases. One of these viruses is parvovirus B19 which can have various rheumatologic manifestations. In this study we investigated the association between parvovirus and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosis(SLE), systemic sclerosis(SSc) and undifferentiated arthritis at the Rheumatological Clinic, Imam Khomeini hospital. Methods: In this sectional case-control study, IgM and IgG antibodies against parvovirus B19 were measured with ELISA in 41 patients with RA, 28 patients with SLE, 13 patients with SSc, 8 patients with undifferentiated arthritis as well as 90 healthy controls. The ELISA kit (DRG, Germany) was semi-quantitative and qualititative. Results: Parvovirus B19 IgM was detected in one patient with RA, one with SSc and four in the control group. IgG anti- B19-specific antibody was detected in 58.5% of RA patients, 67.9% of SLE patients, 69. 2% of SSc patients, 87.5% of undifferentiated arthritis patients as compared to 53.3% of controls. The results were compared between the patient and control groups(p>0.05). Conclusion: According to the results, there was no significant correlation for the antibody titer against parvovirus B19 in the patient and control group. The highly positive response of IgG against parvovirus in undifferentiated arthritis implies the need for more research