Objective: Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) are a family of antibodies that react to proteins within neutrophil granules and monocyte lysosomes, and occur prominently in sera from patients with systemic necrotizing vasculitis. The cytoplasmic staining pattern (c-ANCA) is very sensitive and specific for Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), and most commonly results from reactivity with proteinase 3 (PR3). The features of tissue damage in the fungal infection chromomycosis, in particular polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) infiltration and granuloma formation, bear a resemblance to that seen in WG.
Methods: We tested sera from 25 patients with clinical and histologic diagnosis of chromomycosis for the presence of ANCA by indirect immunofluorescence. These same sera were analyzed for reactivity to neutrophil primary granule extracts and PR3 by ELISA.
Results: Five of the 25 patients (20%) had detectable c-ANCA, without central accentuation, at serum dilutions of at least 1:40. Three of these 5 ANCA-positive patients reacted with neutrophil primary granule extracts by ELISA; however, none of them reacted with PR3.
Conclusions: These results demonstrate that fungal infection should be included among the conditions, unrelated to necrotizing vasculitis, that can trigger autoreactivity against myeloid lysosomal antigens.