RHEUMATOID FACTOR AND ANTI-CYCLIC CITRULLINATED PEPTIDE ANTIBODIES IN PATIENTS WITH PSORIATIC ARTHRITIS

Abstract

Objective: to define the clinical value of rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (anti-CCP) in early psori- atic arthritis (PA). Subjects and methods. Fifty-six patients (32 females and 24 males) with early PA with a mean duration of 12±6.7 months were studied. The examinees' age ranged from 18 to 76 years (mean age 44±15.5 years). Mean psoriasis duration was 12.5±2.2 years. RF IgM was determined using a high-sensitive nephelometric method on a BN Pro-Spec analyzer (Siemens, Germany) and serum anti-CCP concentra- tions were measured by immunochemiluminescence on a COBAS e411 analyzer (Roche, Switzerland). Group 1 included 10 patients with anti-CCP and/or RF (a study group); Group 2 comprised 46 patients without anti-CCP and RF (a control group). Results. There was anti-CCP in 7 (12.5%) of the patients with early PA, RF in 8 (14.3%), both of them in 5 (9%). The study group had a severer course of PA accompanied by polyarthritis, inflamed distal interphalangeal joints, axial arthritis, dactylitis, enthesitis, and, in some cases spondylitis and sacroiliitis. In groups 1 and 2, the number of tender joints was 17.6±4 and 10±1.5, respectively (p = 0.04); that of swollen ones, 12.6±1.5 and 7.0±1.1 (p = 0.02); DAS28 index, 5.9±1.7 and 4.5±1.5 (p = 0.02); ESR, 34.5±5.9 and 22±2.3 (p = 0.04), high-sensitive C reactive protein, 70±25.3 and 24.9±5.0 (p = 0.06); and Sharp ratio, 68.7±14.3 and 21.3±3.8 (p < 0.004). Conclusion. In patients with early PA, anti-CCP and RF were encountered with an approximately equal frequency; at the same time, they were associated with polyarthritis, high disease activity, and an erosive process.

Keywords

• psoriatic arthritis
• anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies
• rheumatoid factor