The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 NewsACR Convergence
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Psoriatic Arthritis Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
    • Interprofessional Perspective
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
      • Psoriatic Arthritis
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Clues to Predictors of Autoimmune Disease Revealed

2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Clues to Predictors of Autoimmune Disease Revealed

February 1, 2014 • By Susan Bernstein

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

You Might Also Like
  • 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Research Provides Insight into Preclinical Rheumatic Disease
  • Switches That Regulate Gene Expression Offer Better Understanding of Rheumatic Disease Say Experts at the 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting
  • Causes of Alopecia Can Vary Among Patients with Systemic Disease Say Experts at the 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting
Explore This Issue
February 2014
Also By This Author
  • ACR Urges CMMI to Test Transparently: Coalition offers principles to guide CMS’s care innovation efforts
Autoimmunity's Earliest Clues
Transmission electron microscopy image of Epstein-Barr virus.

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

SAN DIEGO—Rheumatologists are learning more about what autoantibodies, along with genetic and environmental factors, may predict the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) years before symptoms appear. Speaking at the Clinical Research Conference at the 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, held October 26–30, two researchers clarified recent findings in these areas that may one day enable rheumatologists to treat inflammation in a preclinical disease phase. [Editor’s Note: This session was recorded and is available via ACR SessionSelect at www.rheumatology.org.]

Paraphrasing a famous line from Shakespeare, Solbritt Rantapää-Dahlqvist, MD, professor of public health and clinical medicine at Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, noted that in RA, “to be or not to be antibody positive, that is the question!” She and her colleagues looked at how the development of 10 critical antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptides (CCP) might predict RA onset as many as seven years before clinical symptoms appear and what changes occurred in future RA patients’ immune responses up to a few weeks before disease onset. Their research was published in Arthritis & Rheumatism in April 2013.1

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Telltale Autoantibodies

Using samples from the Medical Biobank of Northern Sweden, Dr. Rantapää-Dahlqvist and her colleagues analyzed the blood of 409 individuals, 386 of whom donated 717 samples before the onset of RA symptoms. For this group, there was a median of 7.4 years before RA symptom onset. In addition, blood biomarker data on 1,305 control subjects were analyzed. Antibodies to 10 citrullinated peptides were examined, but antibodies to three particular peptides stood out as highly predictive of RA: CEP-1, Fibß36-52, and filaggrin. In the samples studied, antibodies to these three peptides increased gradually over time, reaching their highest levels prior to RA disease onset. Fewer than 3.35 years before RA symptoms began, the odds ratio of a patient having both CEP-1 and Fibß36-52 was 40.4, compared to having antibodies to either peptide alone.

“We believe these antibodies might be important for the pathogenesis of the disease development” in RA, said Dr. Rantapää-Dahlqvist. In addition, between 3.4 and 0.2 years before RA starts, only 33.3% of patients showed no evidence of these antibodies in their blood, she said. “This would be a sign of epitope spreading, we think.”

The frequency of certain genetic isotopes that RA patients’ first-degree relatives have also may help rheumatologists predict disease before it strikes, Dr. Rantapää-Dahlqvist added. In another study, the Umeå researchers analyzed data from 51 families that included 163 people with RA and 157 first-degree relatives who did not have the disease. They found that both RA patients and their first-degree relatives had a high frequency of all anti-CCP and rheumatoid factors isotopes compared to unrelated, healthy individuals. In people with RA, the immunoglobulin (Ig) G isotype was most prevalent, but in their relatives, there was a high frequency of the IgA and IgM isotopes. The relatives’ blood rarely showed both anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies and rheumatoid factor, however.

ad goes here:advert-3
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

Pages: 1 2 3 | Single Page

Filed Under: Conditions, Meeting Reports, Rheumatoid Arthritis, SLE (Lupus) Tagged With: ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, Autoimmune disease, predictive medicine, Research, Rheumatoid arthritis, Systemic lupus erythematosusIssue: February 2014

You Might Also Like:
  • 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Research Provides Insight into Preclinical Rheumatic Disease
  • Switches That Regulate Gene Expression Offer Better Understanding of Rheumatic Disease Say Experts at the 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting
  • Causes of Alopecia Can Vary Among Patients with Systemic Disease Say Experts at the 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting
  • 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Genetic Research Yields Clues to Pathogenesis of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis

ACR Convergence

Don’t miss rheumatology’s premier scientific meeting for anyone involved in research or the delivery of rheumatologic care or services.

Visit the ACR Convergence site »

Rheumatology Research Foundation

The Foundation is the largest private funding source for rheumatology research and training in the U.S.

Learn more »

Meeting Abstracts

Browse and search abstracts from the ACR Convergence and ACR/ARP Annual Meetings going back to 2012.

Visit the Abstracts site »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use / Cookie Preferences

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2023 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)