Auto-antibodies against carbonyl-modified vimentin in COPD: potential role as a biomarker

COPD has many hallmarks of autoimmune dysfunction. Driving this autoimmune response are self-antigens, such as highly abundant structural proteins and cellular proteins, which can lead to the production of auto-antibodies. However, controversy surrounds the detection of some of these auto-antibodies as they have often been screened against native, unmodified proteins. Autoantigens arise as a result of a conformational change in the native protein exposing hidden epitopes or by the creation of neo-epitopes through chemical or enzymatic modifications, often caused by oxidative/carbonyl stress. In this study, we screened for auto-antibodies targeting key structural proteins modified by oxidative/carbonyl stress in peripheral blood from stable COPD patients versus control subjects using ELISA. We found an auto-antibody response against unmodified, carbonyl-modified and citrinylated vimentin, with the highest response observed against carbonyl-modified vimentin. Both the IgG and IgM antibody titres against carbonyl-modified were significantly increased in COPD patients compared to healthy non-smokers. Smokers also displayed increased antibody levels against carbonyl-modified vimentin, but only for the IgG isotype. Selectivity analysis indicated that 70% and 63% of COPD patients had higher IgM and IgG titres, respectively, compared to non-smokers. In contrast only 26% and 48% of smokers had higher IgM and IgG titres, respectively, than non-smokers. ROC analysis gave AUC values of 0.78 (p < 0.01) and 0.84 (p < 0.001) for IgM and IgG, respectively, for COPD versus non-smokers, which fell to 0.70 (p < 0.01) and 0.64 (NS), respectively, when asymptomatic smokers were included. No significant increase in antibody titre against carbonyl-modified elastin or collagen was observed in COPD patients or asymptomatic smokers. We conclude that IgM autoantibody responses against carbonyl modified vimentin could serve as a simple blood-based biomarker for COPD, reflecting the disease's pathophysiology, and could help in patient stratification and diagnosis.