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The antiphospolipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by recurrent fetal loss, thrombotic events (arterial or venous) and hemocytopenic disorders associated to high titers of circulating aPL Two variants of the APS have been described. Primary APS is a clinical entity without evidence of any other autoimmune disease and secondary APS is a clinical disorder mainly associated with Systemic Lupus Erithematosus (SLE). aPL are a widely group of immunoglobulins directed against different components or proteins factors. In 1990 three groups of researchers identified that β2GP-I is the mainly antigenic target of aPL in APS patients. There are evidences that show that more than one pathogenic mechanism is involved in the development of the APS. The best documented clinical manifestations associated with the APS are recurrent fetal loss and thrombotic disorders. The latter is based on observations in vivo in animal models and in vitro on the effects caused by β2GP-I antibodies from patients with APS or from animals which cause experimental APS. The objective of the present paper is to show the pathogenic mechanisms that participate in the development of the APS. We also presented evidence that shows that β2GP-I induces pro-inflammatory, pro-adhesive and pro-coagulant disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past few years technological advance have been allowed the developing of techniques that help to the diagnosis of multiple diseases. In the case of the autoimmune diseases, immunological techniques are helpful since they allow the detection of multiple autoantibodies at the same time with small volumes of sample. Together with the development of the new techniques, sensitivity and specificity in the detection of the antibodies specificities' also have been increased, in such a way that the clinicians can count with tests that allow them to make early diagnoses with greater certainty and also to follow the course of the disease based on the variation of the antibodies presents in the patient's samples. It is important to emphasize that the new techniques of laboratory that are used for the support of the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases, no longer are exclusive for research laboratories but by their facility of standardization, quality control and reproducibility they can be used in clinical laboratory of medium and small sizes. In the present paper we describe those techniques with greater application in the clinical laboratory of autoimmune diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]