Quantity increase and functional affinity/avidity decrease of anti-FcεRI and anti-IgE autoantibodies in chronic spontaneous urticaria

SUMMARY

Background. Patients with autoimmune forms of chronic spontaneous urticaria (aiCSU) exhibit autoantibodies against the high-affinity IgE receptor (FcεRI) and IgE. As the presence of these autoantibodies does not correlate with disease activity, the functional affinity/avidity may be relevant in aiCSU. This exploratory study aimed to characterize the quantity and avidity of autoantibodies against IgE and FcεRI over 6 months. Methods. The serum of 49 patients with CSU and 30 healthy control subjects was obtained at baseline and 6 months. Serum was analyzed by ELISA, to determine the quantity and avidity of anti-IgE and anti-FcεRI autoantibodies, and by basophil activation test (CU-BAT). Results. An increase in the quantity of anti-FcεRI and anti-IgE antibodies and a simultaneous decrease in avidity was found in all patients with CSU after 6 months: median anti-IgE increased from 6.7 ng/mL (IQR 5.1-12.5) to 23.8 ng/mL (IQR 12.3-121.5), p < 0.001, median anti-FcεRI from 52.4 ng/mL (IQR 26.3-111.4) to 129.5 ng/mL (IQR 73.7-253.7), p < 0.001. Median anti-IgE avidity decreased from 75.8% (IQR 55.3-90.8) to 56.4% (IQR 30.6-76.2), p = 0.019 and median anti-FcεRI avidity from 75.1% (IQR 49.8-90.0) to 52.2 (IQR 38.2-60.1), p < 0.001. In contrast, the frequency of activated basophils did not change significantly over time. Surprisingly, autoantibody avidity did not correlate with basophil activation. Conclusions. Both the quantity and avidity of anti-FcεRI and anti-IgE antibodies change over time, demonstrating that the CU-BAT is more suitable to diagnose aiCSU. In addition, the avidity of anti-FcεRI and anti-IgE antibodies do not correlate with CU-BAT and disease activity, suggesting that further factors independent of anti-FcεRI and anti-IgE autoantibodies contribute to aiCSU.

KEY WORDS