IgG and IgM anticardiolipin antibodies in patients with lupus with anticardiolipin antibody associated clinical syndromes.

IgG and IgM anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) were measured by a solid phase enzyme immunoassay in 64 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus who had one or more clinical disorders reported to be associated with aCL. We found the presence of IgG aCL was significantly associated with an increased incidence of cerebrovascular disease (p less than 0.01), a positive Venereal Disease Research Laboratories (VDRL) test (p less than 0.02) and prolonged partial thromboplastin time (PTT) (p less than 0.001). IgM aCL were associated with recurrent spontaneous abortion (p less than 0.05), thrombocytopenia (p less than 0.05) as well as a positive VDRL and prolonged PTT. The combination of high titer IgG and IgM aCL was associated with endocardial disease (p = 0.02), migraine (p less than 0.02), in addition to fetal loss (p less than 0.001).