INTRODUCTION Citrullinated self-proteins are thought to be involved in the onset/progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Numerous studies have been performed to look for the self-antigen that becomes citrullinated and induces RA. Importantly, these studies have been performed using citrullinated self-antigens injected into an animal model in the presence of a strong adjuvant in order to deriv...

BACKGROUND Rituximab, a monoclonal antibody that selectively targets CD20-positive B-lymphocytes, is used for the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with an inadequate response or tolerance to tumor necrosis factor inhibitors. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of rituximab treatment on the serum concentrations of vitamin D, interleukin (IL) 2, IL-6, IL...

OBJECTIVE To compare the diagnostic utility of laboratory variables, including matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), anticyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibodies, rheumatoid factor (RF), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with erosive and non-erosive rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS We assembled a training set, consisting of 60 patients with RA...

African patients with Leishmania donovani infections have signs of strong systemic inflammation and high levels of circulating immune complexes (IC) and rheumatoid factor (RF), all serologic markers of rheumatic disease. As inflammation in general is associated with citrullination, we sought to investigate ACPA responses in Sudanese Leishmania patients. Serum samples were collected from Sudanes...

BACKGROUND To analyze differences in the recognition of anti-citrullinated peptide/protein antibody (ACPA) citrullinated epitopes and isotypes in patients with palindromic rheumatism (PR) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS ACPA fine specificities (citrullinated peptides of enolase, fibrin, and vimentin) and isotypes (IgG, IgM, and IgA) were analyzed in 54 patients with longstanding PR and...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (HLA-DRB1SE) and anti-citrullinated protein autoantibodies (ACPAs). ACPAs precedes the onset of clinical and subclinical RA. There are strong data for three infectious agents as autoimmunity triggers in RA, namely Porphyromonas gingivalis and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans causes of periodontal disease (PD), and Epstein...

OBJECTIVE To compare the initial clinical, biological, and radiographic findings of early arthritis by positivity for rheumatoid factor (RF) and/or anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP), and to validate a patient profile based on this serologic information. METHODS The ESPOIR cohort comprises patients presenting synovitis of at least 2 joints for 6 weeks to 6 months. Patients...

Anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) have become an integral part of the clinical definition of rheumatoid arthritis, and are hypothesized to be important in the immunopathogenesis of this autoimmune disease. Several citrullinated proteins have been demonstrated to serve as candidate autoantigens for the ACPA, based on in vitro immune reactions between citrullinated peptides/proteins an...

Background: CD4+ T cells reacting to post-translationally modified, citrullinated self-antigens are thought play a central role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) 1 . This is evidenced by strong HLA class II association, success therapeutic co-stimulation blockade and detection autoantigen specific T-cells using multimers 2 These may represent target for antigen-specific, toleroge...