OBJECTIVES Cathepsin S and cathepsin L are endosomal proteolytic enzymes involved in the degradation of extracellular matrixes, angiogenesis and antigen presentation. Cathepsins could thus play several roles in the disease process of RA. The aim of this study was to examine differences in cathepsin S and cathepsin L levels in serum and SF of RA patients with and without ACPA and RF. METHODS I...

BACKGOUND: The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its specific autoantibodies varies in different populations. This variability depends on the genetic polymorphism immune response genes among which HLA system plays a major role. AIM: We conducted preliminary study distribution HLA-DRB1 HLA-DQB1 first field level alleles sample 100 Albanian patients with RA. METHODS: In this context, we...

Manivel, V. A. 2017. The role of anti-collagen type II antibodies in the pathogenesis and prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Medicine 1289. 62 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554-9792-7. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) which affects 0.5-1% of the world population and is characterised by joint erosion...

INTRODUCTION It has previously been shown that an increased number of antibodies against citrullinated peptides/proteins (ACPA) predate the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Over time antibody positivity expands, involving more specific responses when approaching the onset of symptoms. We investigated the impact of human leukocyte antigen-shared epitope (HLA-SE) alleles and smoking on the dev...

this issue, Makrygiannakis and colleagues study the eff ect on synovial citrullination of treatment with two commonly used drugs in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) [1]. Th ey found by immuno histo chemistry that intracellular citrullination, as deter mined by F95 antibody staining, as well as peptidyl arginine deiminase (PAD) expression were correlated with measures of synovial infl ...

Antibodies against citrullinated proteins (ACPAs) are highly specific for RA. Since the discovery of these antibodies, several of studies that focused on the presence and identity of citrullinated proteins in the joints of RA patients have been carried out. The best-known antigens that bind ACPAs are citrullinated filaggrin, Type II collagen (CII), α-enolase, fibrinogen and vimentin. This revie...

The target antigen of anti-neutrophil cytoplasm antibodies (ACPA; also known as ANCA) was isolated by affinity chromatography from supernatants of human neutrophils, stimulated with phorbol ester to induce degranulation. Sequence analysis of the antigen revealed 17 NH2-terminal amino acids (IVGGHEAQPHIRPIYMA), which have considerable sequence homology with known serine proteinases. Investigatio...