Diagnostic value of antibodies against mutated citrullinated vimentin for rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: To compare the diagnostic efficiency of anti-MCV, anti-CCP2 and RF detection for patients with RA.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of patients with established rheumatic disease: rheumatoid arthritis (RA; n=75), psoriatic arthritis (PsA; n=25), 27 patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS; n=27) and connective tissue disease (CTD; n=17). Anti-CCP2, anti-MCV and RF were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays on stored serum according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Anemia in early rheumatoid arthritis is associated with interleukin 6-mediated bone marrow suppression, but has no effect on disease course or mortality.

Objective: Anemia of chronic disease (ACD) is the most common extraarticular manifestation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but there is limited information on the cause and consequences of ACD. We investigated the prevalence, relation with proinflammatory cytokines, and effect on disease outcome of ACD in patients with RA.

Methods: The presence of anemia was analyzed in a cohort of 111 consecutive patients with early RA.

Alpha-actinin-binding antibodies in relation to systemic lupus erythematosus and lupus nephritis.

This study investigated the overall clinical impact of anti-alpha-actinin antibodies in patients with pre-selected autoimmune diseases and in a random group of anti-nuclear antibody (ANA)-positive individuals. The relation of anti-alpha-actinin antibodies with lupus nephritis and anti-double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) antibodies represented a particular focus for the study. Using a cross-sectional design, the presence of antibodies to alpha-actinin was studied in selected groups, classified according to the relevant American College of Rheumatology classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (n = 99), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n = 68), Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) (n = 85), and fibromyalgia (FM) (n = 29), and in a random group of ANA-positive individuals (n = 142).