Anticitrullinated protein/peptide antibodies and rheumatoid factors: two distinct autoantibody systems
Dipartimento di Clinica e Terapia Medica, Reumatologia, Sapienza Università di Roma, V.le del Policlinico 155, 00161 Rome, Italy
Arthritis Research & Therapy 2009, 11:125 doi:10.1186/ar2786
See related research by Ursum et al., http://arthritis-research.com/content/11/3/R75
Published: 14 September 2009Abstract
In a previous issue of Arthritis Research and Therapy, Ursum and colleagues report the relative stabilities of anticitrullinated protein/peptide antibodies (ACPAs) and IgM rheumatoid factors during the course of rheumatoid arthritis and their differential correlation with markers of the acute-phase response. These findings add to a growing body of evidence highlighting the distinct nature of these two autoantibody systems and the role of ACPAs as a disease-specific marker of rheumatoid arthritis.
