title: Anti-Sa antibodies: prognostic and pathogenetic significance to rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Anti-Sa antibodies are detected in the serum of 20-47% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. These antibodies have a high degree of specificity for the disease, and appear to identify a subset of early rheumatoid arthritis patients destined to have aggressive and destructive disease. It has recently been confirmed that anti-Sa antibodies are directed to citrullinated vimentin, thus placing them in the anti-citrulline family of autoantibodies. The Sa antigen has previously been shown to be present in synovium. This, along with the demonstration of citrullinated proteins in rheumatoid synovium, suggests that anti-Sa antibodies may play a pathogenetic role in the initiation and/or persistence of rheumatoid synovitis.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatic Disease Research Laboratory, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. elgabal@cc.umanitoba.ca
authors.forename: Hani S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: El-Gabalawy
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Wilkins
mesh_terms: D000918:Antibody Specificity / Q000502:physiology*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000276:immunology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D001324:Autoantigens; D015415:Biomarkers