Anticitrullinated protein/peptide antibodies and rheumatoid factors: two distinct autoantibody systems
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* Corresponding author: Guido Valesini guido.valesini@uniroma1.it
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
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.