Polyautoimmunity Reflecting Immune Dysregulation in Common Variable Immunodeficiency
<b>Background</b>: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most frequent symptomatic inborn error of immunity (IEI) in adulthood. Other than recurrent infections, CVID may present with non-infectious complications such as enteropathy, lymphoproliferation, malignancy, and autoimmune diseases. Patients could have a single autoimmune disease (monoautoimmunity) or two or more autoimmune diseases (overt polyautoimmunity). "Latent polyautoimmunity" corresponds to the presence of autoantibodies without a clinically evident autoimmune disease. <b>Methods</b>: The aim of this retrospective study was to describe autoimmunity and polyautoimmunity in a population of 81 CVID adult patients, enrolled from January 2008 to July 2022 (mean follow-up: 8.5 years). <b>Results</b>: We documented at least one autoimmune disorder in 40 patients (49.4%). Moreover, 15 subjects (37.5% of patients with autoimmunity and 18.5% of all CVID population) presented polyautoimmunity. Despite the humoral immune deficiency, we detected different autoantibodies in CVID patients with or without a concomitant autoimmune disease. In both groups with monoautoimmunity and polyautoimmunity, cytopenias were the most common manifestation. Conversely, enteropathy was recorded only in patients with polyautoimmunity (27%, <i>p</i> = 0.006). Patients with polyautoimmunity showed a significantly lower mean age at diagnosis (-12 years, <i>p</i> = 0.018) compared to those with monoautoimmunity. We documented a higher frequency of autoimmunity in CVID patients who had increased diagnostic (+5.6 years) and therapeutic (+7.2 years) delay (<i>p</i> = 0.093 and 0.054, respectively). <b>Conclusions</b>: Polyautoimmunity is a frequent condition in patients affected by CVID. An early start of Ig replacement therapy could help prevent autoimmune complications.
Authors
- Maria Beatrice Bilò (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9324-6039)
- Gianluca Moroncini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0380-0105)
- Matteo Martini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9873-9695)
- Cristina Mezzanotte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8854-5149)
- Giuseppe Murdaca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6403-6905)
- Ilaria Claudi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6211-8146)
- Maria Giovanna Danieli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9608-2252)
- Sebastiano Gangemi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7001-6532)
- Elena Buti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-0085-7324)
Institutions
- University of Messina (IT)
- Marche Polytechnic University (IT)
- Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedale San Carlo Borromeo (IT)
- Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Ospedali Riuniti (IT)
- Azienda Socio Sanitaria Territoriale Lariana (IT)
- University of Genoa (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Biomedicines
- Published
- 2025-02-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines13030552
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Immunodeficiency and Autoimmune Disorders
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.19
Funders
- Università Politecnica delle Marche