In this study we have investigated five quantitative and three semi-quantitative rheumatoid factor assays and the Rose-Waaler assay in 120 patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and in 76 with other systemic diseases. All tests measure the IgM anti-IgG antibodies. The correlations between the quantitative tests were all higher than 0.86 and much better than between the quantitative and se...

Deficiency of the monocyte ectoenzyme non-specific esterase is described in a heredofamilial pattern in four patients with rheumatoid arthritis. No association with HLA status or rheumatoid factor seropositivity was found.

In a previous issue of Arthritis Research and Therapy, Ursum and colleagues report the relative stabilities of anticitrullinated protein/peptide antibodies (ACPAs) and IgM rheumatoid factors during the course of rheumatoid arthritis and their differential correlation with markers of the acute-phase response. These findings add to a growing body of evidence highlighting the distinct nature of th...

Serum and serum fractions from patients with rheumatoid arthritis have been subjected to anion exchange chromatography on diethylaminoethyl cellulose. The rheumatoid factor activity was clearly separated from the bulk of the gamma globulin by virtue of the anomalous behavior of macroglobulins on this column. Purification of rheumatoid factor by precipitation with fraction II, resolution in 4 M ...

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible role of the CCR5 59029 A→G promoter point mutation polymorphism in determining the susceptibility to rheumatoid factor-positive and rheumatoid factor-negative rheumatoid arthritis. This polymorphism was assessed in 85 seropositive and 39 seronegative rheumatoid arthritis patients and in 126 healthy individuals of the same geographic and ethn...

Polymorphisms in IL-2RA and IL-2RB genes have been reported to confer susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in European populations. We investigated a possilbe association between SNPs in IL-2RA and IL-2RB genes and RA in a Han Chinese population. rs2104286 in IL-2RA and rs743777 in IL-2RB genes were genotyped in a Han Chinese cohort composed of 500 patients with RA and 600 controls. The ...

AIMS The purpose of this study was to examine whether preoperative activity of rheumatoid arthritis influences the extent of anterior chamber inflammation after cataract extraction and intraocular lens implantation. METHODS The medical records of 23 consecutive patients (33 eyes) with rheumatoid arthritis, who underwent cataract extraction with intraocular lens implantation, were reviewed dur...

The rheumatoid factor (RF) latex test was evaluated as a test for congenital syphilis. High risk newborns of mothers with untreated or inadequately treated syphilis were studied. The asymptomatic infants were followed up for between 3 and 4 months (or longer if the VDRL test was positive). The overall performance of the RF latex test was better than that of the other tests studied, even though ...