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Review ArticleMedical ProgressFree Preview

The Antiphospholipid Syndrome

List of authors.
  • Jerrold S. Levine, M.D.,
  • D. Ware Branch, M.D.,
  • and Joyce Rauch, Ph.D.

The antiphospholipid syndrome is an autoimmune disorder of hypercoagulability characterized by the presence of autoantibodies to various phospholipids or phospholipid-binding proteins. The autoantibodies include anticardiolipin antibodies, lupus anticoagulant antibodies, and antibodies to β2-glycoprotein I (a phospholipid-binding protein). These autoantibodies have both procoagulant and anticoagulant effects, but the procoagulant effects predominate, resulting in syndromes of venous and arterial thrombosis and pregnancy loss.

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Funding and Disclosures

Supported in part by funding of the H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Chair (to Dr. Branch).

We are indebted to Drs. Paul Fortin, Jeannine Kassis, and Douglas Triplett for their critical reviews and thoughtful comments and to Dr. Susan Solymoss for her reviews, comments, and important contribution to Figure 1.

Author Affiliations

From the Department of Medicine, Section of Nephrology, University of Chicago, Chicago (J.S.L.); the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City (D.W.B.); and the Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montreal (J.R.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Rauch at the Montreal General Hospital Research Institute, 1650 Cedar Ave., Montreal, QC H3G 1A4, Canada, or at .

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