Antiphospholipid antibodies as non-traditional risk factors in atherosclerosis based cardiovascular diseases without overt autoimmunity. A critical updated review

The role of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) associated with cardiovascular diseases has been extensively studied in autoimmune patients, however it was largely unknown whether and how aPL associate with coronary artery disease (CAD), ishemic stroke (IS) and peripheral artery disease (PAD) in non-autoimmune patients. The current review attempts to prioritize for the first time clinical studies based on cause-outcome and strengths relationships in reference to aPL and CAD/PAD, in addition to supplementing Brey's comprehensive review on IS with other, additional studies. Our overview indicates that all case–control and cross-sectional studies found an aPL association with CAD, PAD and IS, while cohort and nested case–control studies reported a prevailing negative risk association between aPL and IS (confirming Brey), with an unclear/unresolved risk association between aPL and CAD. The only cohort, follow-up study found in PAD reported on positive risk association between aPL and disease. The most frequently associated aPL in all studies reported, irrespective of disease, was aCL, with a less frequent association reported for LA, aβ2GPI and other aPL.