Relation between elevated high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and anti-mitochondria antibody in patients with systemic sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a systemic connective tissue disease of unknown etiology which presents immunological, vascular and connective tissue abnormalities. C-reactive protein (CRP) has been used for the evaluation of inflammation in patients with infection and inflammatory diseases. Recently, high-sensitivity CRP has been shown to reflect mild and/or moderate inflammation for the prognosis of ischemic heart disease. High-sensitivity CRP was measured for the evaluation of mild and/or moderate inflammation in SSc. Forty SSc patients (male : female, 7:33; age, 16-78 years; mean, 61.9 years) were studied. High-sensitivity CRP was measured with a nephelometric assay. The detection limit was 0.0036 mg/dL, linearity from 0.015-1.5 mg/dL. The distribution of high-sensitivity CRP showed 26 cases (65.0%) low, three cases (7.5%) mild, four cases (10.0%) moderate, four cases (10.0%) high and three cases (7.5%) highest. The occurrence rate of anti-mitochondria antibody in high-sensitivity CRP elevated SSc patients (8/14, 57.1%) was significantly elevated compared with that of high-sensitivity CRP low SSc patients (3/26, 11.5%) (P < 0.01). These results led us to the conclusion that elevated high-sensitivity CRP shows relation to the occurrence of anti-mitochondria antibody.