title: Antibodies against β-fibrin synthetic peptides: a study of their association with the immunogenetic background and disease course of rheumatoid arthritis patients.
abstract: Preliminary studies have shown the potential application for the diagnosis of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients with a severe disease course of an epitopic domain of β-fibrin. The aim of the present work was the analysis of the presence of antibodies against several β-fibrin synthetic peptides in relation to the immunogenetic background and disease course in a clinically well-defined RA patient cohort. Our results indicated that positive patients against anti-β-fibrin synthetic peptides have a higher percentage of HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (SE) than negative patients. We also observed that the presence of SE alleles was significantly associated with a higher level of anti-[Cit(376)]βfib(365-383) antibodies. When analyzing the effect of different SE alleles, we found a significant positive association between carriers of QRRAA allele and [Cit(376)]βfib(365-383) (Odds ratio 3.77; CI95%: 1.41-10.08). These results suggest that the anti-β-fibrin status is associated with the immunogenetic background of RA patients.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Synthesis and Biomedical Applications of Peptides, Department of Biomedical Chemistry, IQAC-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, Barcelona 08034, Spain. isabel.haro@iqac.csic.es
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Haro
authors.forename: María J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gómara
authors.forename: María L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: Odette
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Viñas
authors.forename: Guadalupe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ercilla
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gómez-Puerta
authors.forename: Raimon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sanmartí
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000906:Antibodies / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D005337:Fibrin / Q000737:chemistry*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000939:Epitopes; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D059811:HLA-DRB1 Chains; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D005337:Fibrin