Skip Navigation



Rheumatology Advance Access published online on September 27, 2005
Rheumatology, doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kei133
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
45/2/204    most recent
kei133v1
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 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 arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dewint, P.
Right arrow Articles by Elewaut, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Dewint, P.
Right arrow Articles by Elewaut, D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received May 9, 2005
Accepted August 19, 2005

Concise Report

Effect of age on prevalence of anticitrullinated protein/peptide antibodies in polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis

P. Dewint 1, I. E. A. Hoffman 1, S. Rogge 1, R. Joos 2, A. Union 3, J. Dehoorne 4, J. Delanghe 5, E. M. Veys 1, F. De Keyser 1, and D. Elewaut 2*

1 Departments of Rheumatology, Ghent, Belgium
2 Departments of Rheumatology, Ghent, Belgium; Department of Paediatrics, Center for Paediatric Rheumatology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
3 Innogenetics NV, Ghent, Belgium
4 Department of Paediatrics, Center for Paediatric Rheumatology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium
5 Clinical Chemistry, Ghent, Belgium

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
D. Elewaut, E-mail: dirk.elewaut{at}ugent.be


  Abstract

Objectives. Anticitrullinated protein/peptide antibodies (ACPA) have an excellent diagnostic performance for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Despite similarities between RA and polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), the prevalence of ACPA in polyarticular JIA is low. We wanted to evaluate the influence of age, disease duration and total immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentration on ACPA positivity in this cohort.

Methods. Patients with JIA were classified according to age and International League of Associations for Rheumatology classification. Sixty-one JIA patients aged less than 16 yr were included and classified as polyarticular JIA (poly JIA <16; n=23) or non-polyarticular JIA (n=38). In addition, a group of 21 polyarticular JIA patients, aged more than 16 yr (poly JIA >16) and a group of 51 RA patients were included. Antibodies to the synthetic citrullinated peptides pepA and pepB were detected by line immunoassay and antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptides (CCP2) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum IgG was measured by fixed-time immunonephelometry.

Results. No ACPA reactivity was observed in the non-polyarticular group. In poly JIA <16, only 1/23 had anti-CCP2 antibody, whereas in poly JIA >16 patients a significantly higher fraction was detected (6/21). All but one of the anti-CCP2 reactive patients were rheumatoid factor (RF) positive. Assessing anti-CCP2 antibody concentration as a continuous variable, significantly higher titres were found in poly JIA >16 compared with poly JIA <16. No correlation between anti-CCP2 concentration and total IgG was detected. Four patients demonstrated immunoreactivity against pepA and pepB; all of them were anti-CCP2 reactive, poly JIA >16 patients.

Conclusions. ACPA are present in low prevalence in polyarticular JIA and are particularly found in the RF-positive subset. With age, a significant increase in anti-CCP2 positivity is observed in polyarticular JIA patients.

Keywords: JIA; ACPA; Polyarticular arthritis; Autoimmune serology.
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.