The prevalence of anti-acetylcholinesterase antibodies in autoimmune disease

A robust and precise enzyme linked immunosorbent assay ( ELISA) with proven sensitivity and specificity has been employed to detect human antibodies ( allogenic/ autogenic) to human acetylcholinesterase ( AChE). The sensitivity of the method has been established using mouse monoclonal antibodies ( 0.8 ng/ ml) and uniquely, human sera positive for anti- Yt(a) allogenic antibodies, to one phenotypic form ( most common) of human AChE. The latter was also used as the positive human control to ensure functionality of the assay. The ELISA method was used to establish a normal distribution curve for absorbance values employing sera from healthy blood donors (n = 118). Subsequently, the ELISA was employed to investigate the prevalence of anti- AChE antibodies in patients with confirmed autoimmune disease and patients with non- autoimmune thyroid disease ( diseased control). The results indicate that there is not a high prevalence of anti- AChE antibodies in patients with confirmed autoimmune disease. The lack of anti- AChE autoantibodies in patients' with clinically apparent Graves' ophthalmopathy, mitigates against there being a causal role of such antibodies in Graves' associated eye disease.