Annexin V autoantibodies in rheumatoid arthritis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the occurrence of anti-annexin V autoantibodies in sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis to assess involvement with the disease and any relation to glucocorticoid treatment.


METHODS
Anti-annexin V antibodies were measured by an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) which used the purified human recombinant protein as antigen.


RESULTS
Concentrations of anti-annexin V autoantibodies, predominantly of the IgG class, were significantly raised in sera from patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared to normal controls. This was not correlated with other indices of disease activity such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate or C reactive protein and was unrelated to glucocorticoid treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Extracellular annexin V provides an antigenic stimulus for autoantibody production and its in vivo expression is independent of glucocorticoid control. Such autoantibodies may have a detrimental role in the arthritic condition by interfering with putative functions of annexin V, including collagen type II binding, inhibition of phospholipase A2 activity, and Fc receptor activity.
Rodríguez-García
M I
MI
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oviedo, Spain.
Fernández
J A
JA
Rodríguez
A
A
Fernández
M P
MP
Gutierrez
C
C
Torre-Alonso
J C
JC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017304:Annexin A5 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D001799:Blood Sedimentation; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis
D017304:Annexin A5; D001323:Autoantibodies; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D002097:C-Reactive Protein; D011239:Prednisolone