Camacho, Maria TeresaOutschoorn, ITellez, ASequí, J2019-01-102019-01-102005-11-10J Autoimmune Dis. 2005 Nov 10;2:10.17402557http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12105/6983Recent reports have shown that some of the immunological aspects of Q fever, a rickettsiosis caused by Coxiella burnetii, could be related to self-antigen responses. The aim of this study was to determine the specificity of the autoantibody response of patients with acute and chronic Coxiella infections. Smooth muscle and cardiac muscle-specific autoantibodies were observed in significant percentages in acutely or chronically affected Q fever patients when compared to healthy volunteers. Moreover, the incidence of cardiac muscle-specific autoantibody was significantly higher among chronically ill patients compared to acutely ill patients. Moreover, a band of 50 kD of a HeLa extract was detected in most of the sera of individuals with chronic infections and previous sequence analysis suggests that this antigen presents a high degree of homology with the human actin elongation factor 1 alpha. Further research would be necessary to confirm if antibodies to human cytoskeletal proteins could be of clinical importance in chronically infected Q fever patients.engVoRhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/AutoantibodiesCoxiella burnetiiQ FeverAtribución 4.0 Internacional16280092211010.1186/1740-2557-2-101740-2557Journal of autoimmune diseasesopen access