• Masaru Ando, Eishi Miyazaki, Toshihiro Ishii, Yutaka Mukai, Mari Yamasue, Hideaki Fujisaki, Takeo Ito, Shin-ichi Nureki, and Toshihide Kumamoto.
• Department of Internal Medicine 3, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, 1-1 Idaigaoka, Hasama-machi, Yufu-shi, Oita 879-5593, Japan. mando@oita-u.ac.jp
• Respir Med. 2013 Apr 1;107(4):608-15.

BackgroundPulmonary fibrosis is a manifestation of microscopic polyangitis (MPA), and often precedes the detection of MPA. The prevalence and sequence of myeloperoxidase anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (MPO-ANCA) and MPA in patients initially diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) have not been precisely elucidated.MethodsWe enrolled 61 consecutive patients with IPF and measured the MPO-ANCA titers at initial presentation and during the follow-up period. Clinical, radiologic and histologic features of MPO-ANCA-positive cases were examined.ResultsOf 61 patients, 3 (4.9%) had positive MPO-ANCA titers at the initial presentation of IPF. During the disease course, MPO-ANCA-positive conversion occurred in 6 patients and the prevalence of ANCA increased to 14.8%. Among the nine patients positive for MPO-ANCA, two patients developed MPA during follow-up. Histologic features of MPO-ANCA-positive pulmonary fibrosis were compatible with the usual interstitial pneumonia pattern in which alveolar hemorrhage and capillaritis were not observed. The patients with MPO-ANCA-positive conversion showed increased percentages of bronchoalveolar lavage eosinophils and more frequent complication of pulmonary emphysema compared to those with MPO-ANCA-negative IPF.ConclusionsThe findings of the present study demonstrated that patients with an initial diagnosis of IPF occasionally acquire MPO-ANCA, which develops to MPA during the disease course of IPF. The presence of pulmonary eosinophilia and low attenuation areas on computed tomography scans might be predictive of MPO-ANCA positive conversion.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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