Autoantibodies production and immunological abnormalities after bariatric surgery

• Published in: Journal of translational autoimmunity (Online) Vol. 2; p. 100024
• Main Authors: Tobón, Gabriel J., Ospina, Fabio E., Suso, Juan Pablo, Posso-Osorio, Iván, Echeverri, Andrés F., Muñoz-Buitrón, Evelyn, Martínez, Javier-Darío, Castaño, Gloria-Lucía, Agualimpia, Andrés, Bonilla-Abadía, Fabio, Dorado, Evelyn, Cañas, Carlos A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-12-2019; Elsevier
• Subjects: Autoimmune diseases; Bariatric surgery; Immunology; Research paper; Autoimmune diseases; Immunology; Bariatric surgery
• ISSN: 2589-9090; 2589-9090
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtauto.2019.100024

Bariatric surgery is a widely used procedure for the treatment of obesity. Our aim is to describe the main immunological changes in patients who undergo bariatric surgery.
A prospective study was conducted within a cohort of patients undergoing bariatric surgery and without previous evidence of systemic or organ-specific autoimmune diseases in whom 3 blood samples were collected – one day before surgery (Time 0), and 5 (Time 1) and 10 months (Time 2) after surgery.
Thirty four obese patients underwent surgery (Time 0):30(88.24%) were women, mean age 38.3 years. When comparing Time 0 and Time 2, there were statistically significant changes in CD4+T cell count, with an increase from 1074/mL(IQR:860–1316) to 1217.5/mL(IQR:838–1510),p = 0.0002. The CD4/CD8 ratio increased from 2.2(IQR: 1.7–2.7) to 2.4(1.8–2.8), p = 0.0001. As for humoral variables, the C3 fraction of complement decreased from 164 ± 40.6 mg/dL to 112.4 ± 31.4 mg/dL(p < 0.001) and C4 decreased from 29.3 ± 10.1 mg/dL to 22.5 ± 7.1(p = 0.0009) at Time 2. Four patients with negative ANAs at baseline, showed positive ANAs at Time 2.One patient developed anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies >200 IU/mL at Time 2.
Patients undergoing bariatric surgery show immunological changes which might eventually lead to develop an autoimmune disease.
•Bariatric surgery is beneficial in treatment of obesity, although little is known about impact of significant weight loss in the immune system.•Bariatric surgery may induce antinuclear antibodies positivity.•Bariatric surgery may induce changes in T lymphocytes population.