Prevalence of Anti-double Stranded DNA among Homozygous Sickle Cell Disease in Sudan

Abstract

Background:Both SCD and autoimmunity are chronic disorders, they share a number of common clinical

manifestations which may lead to delay or miss in the diagnosis at the time of coexistence. The objective of this study was to

find out the frequency of anti-dsDNA in homozygous SCD patients in Sudan. Methods: A total of 100 SCD HbSS patients of

were studied. CBC was performed and the patients plasma was screened for the presence of ANA, All positive samples were

further tested for the presence of anti-dsDNA. Results: ANA was found in (17.3%) of patients compared to (2.5%) of control

group, the females showed dominance in positivity (70.6%). Three patients (3.1%) were positive to anti-dsDNA, none of the

control were positive for antibodies to dsDNA. Conclusions: Patients autoantibodies positivity was found to be higher than

the control group. These findings can be striking, especially since there was no epidemiological study published before in

Sudan to determine the frequency of ANA and anti-dsDNA among SCD patients, as far as we know. Careful attention must

be taken by the physicians especially when unusual clinical symptoms appear during the follow up of patients to avoid

neglecting the diagnosis of the underlying disease.