Quantification and Evaluation of the Role of Antielastin Autoantibodies in the Emphysematous Lung

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be an autoimmune disease. Smoking causes an imbalance of proteases and antiproteases in the lung resulting in the generation of elastin peptides that can potentially act as autoantigens. Similar to COPD, Z alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (Z-A1ATD) and cystic fibrosis (CF) are associated with impaired pulmonary antiprotease defences leading to unopposed protease activity. Here, we show that there is a trend towards higher bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) antielastin antibody levels in COPD and Z-A1ATD and significantly lower levels in CF compared to control BALF; the lower levels in CF are due to the degradation of these antibodies by neutrophil elastase. We also provide evidence that these autoantibodies have the potential to induce T cell proliferation in the emphysematous lung. This study highlights that antielastin antibodies are tissue specific, can be detected at elevated levels in COPD and Z-A1ATD BALF despite their being no differences in their levels in plasma compared to controls, and suggests a therapeutic role for agents targeting these autoantibodies in the lungs.