Srpski arhiv za celokupno lekarstvo 2012 Volume 140, Issue 5-6, Pages: 350-354
https://doi.org/10.2298/SARH1206350S
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The clinical significance of antibody determination to cyclic citrullinated peptides in systemic sclerosis
Stamenković Bojana (Institut za lečenje i rehabilitaciju „Niška Banja”, Niška Banja)
Stanković Aleksandra (Institut za lečenje i rehabilitaciju „Niška Banja”, Niška Banja)
Dimić Aleksandar (Institut za lečenje i rehabilitaciju „Niška Banja”, Niška Banja)
Damjanov Nemanja (Institut za reumatologiju, Beograd)
Nedović Jovan (Institut za lečenje i rehabilitaciju „Niška Banja”, Niška Banja)
Stojanović Sonja (Institut za lečenje i rehabilitaciju „Niška Banja”, Niška Banja)
Savić Vojin (Institut za biomedicinska istraživanja, Medicinski fakultet, Niš)
Đorđević Dragan (Institut za lečenje i rehabilitaciju „Niška Banja”, Niška Banja)
Introduction. Anti-citrullinated peptides antibodies (ACPA) are present in
80% of sera of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with high specificity for
diagnosis and prediction for the development of early erosive arthritis. A
few studies have reported a low frequency ACPA in systemic sclerosis (SSc)
patients with the presence of arthritis. Objective. The aim of our study was
to determine the frequency of ACPA in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients,
their correlation with clinical manifestations and radiographic features.
Methods. The study included 82 patients with SSc, mean age 54.4 years, 59
with the limited (lSSc) and 23 with the diffuse (dSSc) form of the disease.
The control group included 28 healthy age and sex matched subjects. ACPA and
rheumatoid factor (RF) were determined in all SSc patients and healthy
subjects in whom standard radiography of hands and wrists was also done.
Results. The presence of ACPA was detected in 11 (13.4%) of SSc patients.
Their level was not increased in any of the controls. Positive RF was found
in 15.9% of SSc patients. Arthritis was present in 17.1%, as well as marginal
bone erosions. There was a statistically significant association between
positive ACPA and arthritis (p<0.0001) and positive ACPA and marginal bone
erosions (p=0.0002). Conclusion. The research confirmed the correlation
between ACPA with clinical signs of arthritis and radiographic damage of hand
joints. ACPA is a useful diagnostic marker in the identification of SSc
patients with arthritis and anatomic bone damage enabling the use of adequate
therapy in order to prevent joint damage and poor quality of life.
Keywords: anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies, systemic sclerosis, arthritis, erosions