Skip Navigation


Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on July 20, 2004
Rheumatology 2004 43(10):1272-1274; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/keh307
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
43/10/1272    most recent
keh307v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ram, S.
Right arrow Articles by Gama, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ram, S.
Right arrow Articles by Gama, R.
Related Collections
Right arrow Rheumatoid Arthritis
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Rheumatology Vol. 43 No. 10 © British Society for Rheumatology 2004; all rights reserved

Concise Report

Raised serum prolactin in rheumatoid arthritis: genuine or laboratory artefact?

S. Ram, D. Blumberg1, P. Newton1, N. R. Anderson and R. Gama

Departments of Clinical Chemistry and 1 Rheumatology, New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV10 0QP, UK.

Correspondence to: R. Gama, Clinical Chemistry, New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, West Midlands. WV10 0QP, UK. E-mail: rousseau.gama{at}rwh-tr.nhs.uk

Objectives. Serum prolactin concentrations have been reported as higher, similar or lower in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared with control subjects. We investigated whether low biological activity macroprolactin (a prolactin antibody complex), which is detected variably in different prolactin immunoassays, could account for the discrepant total prolactin results reported in RA.

Methods. We compared serum total prolactin and free prolactin in 60 women with RA and 31 female controls.

Results. No subject had hyperprolactinaemia or macroprolactinaemia. Serum concentrations of total and free (monomeric) prolactin were higher (P<0.05) in women with RA [mean (S.D.), 225.6 (104.6) and 201.6 (95.4) mU/l respectively] compared with controls [175.0 (68.5) and 154.0 (60.9) mU/l respectively].

Conclusions. We report higher serum free prolactin concentrations in women with RA compared with control subjects. This result indicates that the higher serum total prolactin levels in patients with RA are the consequence of increased free prolactin concentrations and are not due to macroprolactin.

KEY WORDS: Prolactin, Macroprolactin, Big prolactin, Big big prolactin, Rheumatoid arthritis


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.