Clinical and experimental immunology
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Clin. Exp. Immunol. · Apr 2013
Anti-citrullinated glucose-6-phosphate isomerase peptide antibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis are associated with HLA-DRB1 shared epitope alleles and disease activity.
To identify and characterize anti-citrullinated glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI) peptide antibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Nine GPI arginine-bearing peptides in human GPI protein were selected and cyclic citrullinated GPI peptides (CCG-1-9) were constructed. Samples were obtained from RA (n = 208), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (n = 101), Sjögren's syndrome (SS; n = 101) and healthy controls (n = 174). ⋯ Treatment with tumour necrosis factor antagonists reduced significantly the levels of anti-CCG-2 and -7 but not of anti-CEP-1 antibodies. This is the first report documenting the presence of anti-CCG antibodies in RA. Anti-CCG-2 and -7 antibodies could be considered as markers for the diagnosis of RA and its disease activity.