BACKGROUND Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and on hemodialysis (HD) are at increased risk for developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as a result of defective immunity. Our aim was to examine if ESRD and the length of HD treatment impact the clinical utility of antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptides (anti-CCP) and rheumatoid factor (RF) as diagnostic tools for RA. METHODS We i...

Rheumatoid factor (RF) is currently used in the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The discovery of anticitrullinated protein autoantibodies has led to the development of various new tests, such as anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies, and anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV) antibodies, to diagnose RA. The aims of this study were to determine the sensitivity a...

Various studies have demonstrated that Fc engineering to enhance neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) binding is effective for elongating half-life or increasing cellular uptake of IgG. A previous study has shown that a N434H mutation to enhance FcRn binding resulted in increased binding to rheumatoid factor (RF) autoantibody, which is not desirable for therapeutic use in autoimmune disease. In this stu...

TNF-like cytokine (TL1A) is a newly identified member of the TNF superfamily of ligands that is important for T cell costimulation and Th1 polarization. However, despite increasing information about its functions, very little is known about expression of TL1A in normal or pathological states. In this study, we report that mononuclear phagocytes appear to be a major source of TL1A in rheumatoid ...

INTRODUCTION Autoantibodies against mutated and citrullinated vimentin (MCV) represent a novel diagnostic marker for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recently, an increased sensitivity for anti-MCV compared to autoantibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptides (anti-CCP2) was shown in cohorts of patients with early RA and established disease.The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a point...

INTRODUCTION We aimed to investigate whether recognized hormonal predictors of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) also influence the severity of RA. METHODS One hundred thirty-four incident RA cases identified by four different local and national registers, who had participated in a community-based health survey between 1991 and 1996, were included. By a retrospective structured review of the medical ...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic inflammation of the joints. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of anti CCP antibodies in patients with RA. This study included three groups; group I: 60 early diagnosed RA patients selected according to the ACR, group II: 30 patients of arthritis other than RA, group III: 10 healthy age and sex matche...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association of a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the promoter region of MHC2TA gene (-168*G/A, rs3087456), which has previously been described in a Swedish rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cohort, in British Caucasian RA patients. METHODS We genotyped 733 RA patients and 613 healthy controls for MHC2TA -168*G/A SNP by amplification-refractory mutation system (ARM...

A major diagnostic marker in most rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients is the rheumatoid factor (RF), an autoantibody that binds to the Fc region of IgG. To delineate the Ig genes and the underlying mechanism for RF production in RA patients, we applied a systematic approach to define the genetic origins of three IgG RFs derived from the synovial fluid of two RA patients. The results show that tw...

BACKGROUND Rheumatoid arthritis(RA) is a debilitating condition.Early diagnosis of RA can be difficult as the disease may initially be indistinguishable from Undifferentiated arthritis(UA). American College of Rheumatology criteria(ACR)is not suitable for early diagnosis as its characteristics are fulfilled when bone damage has already taken place.Anti-cyclic citrullinated antibodies(Anti-CCP) ...