title: Evaluation of anti-CCP antibody for diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rheumatoid arthritis is a common, world wide, systemic disease that affects mainly joints. Rheumatoid factor is the only marker to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis; however these antibodies are present in other disorders and even in up to 15% of the healthy population. Many auto antibodies have been reported to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis e.g. APF and AKA, etc. but they are not specific and due to tedious laboratory procedure, they have not been generally adopted. Anti-CCP antibodies have been reported for their high sensitivity and specificity. This study was planed to determine the prevalence of anti-CCP antibodies and RA factor in clinically diagnosed patients of rheumatoid arthritis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anti-CCP antibody was determined by ELISA technique and RA-factor was done by latex agglutination method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty five patients, 36 female and 9 male, were recruited for this study. Twenty-five (55.6%) patents were positive for anti-CCP antibodies while 20 patients were negative for anti-CCP antibodies and comparison between anti-CCP positive and anti-CCP negative was statistically significant (p = < 0.01). Thirty-one (68%) patients were seropositive (SPRA) for RA while 14 (31%) patients were seronegative (SNRA). Among SPRA patients, 18 were positive for anti-CCP antibody and among 14 SNRA patients, 7 patients had anti-CCP antibody and the difference between these two groups was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Anti-CCP antibody and RA-factor should be used concomitantly to diagnose RA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. immunology@uhs.edu.pk
authors.forename: Nadeem
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Afzal
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karim
authors.forename: Tafazzul-e-Haque
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Mahmud
authors.forename: Waqas
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sami
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arif
authors.forename: Sarwar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abbas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D001324:Autoantigens / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000276:immunology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor / Q000032:analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D001324:Autoantigens; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; C487763:cyclic citrullinated peptide; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor