Relationship among neutrophil counts, autoantibody levels and disease progression in inflamed joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

GORLINO CV; DAVE MN; TAMASHIRO H; BLAS R; MUNARRIZ A; PISTORESI-PALENCIA MC; DI GENARO MS

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LXII Reunión Científica Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología; 2014

Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the most frequent autoimmune disease, is a chronic inflammatory rheumatism hallmarked by progressive and irreversible joint destruction. Among the numerous autoantibodies associated with RA, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (ACPA) are now recognized as the most disease-specific. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between neutrophil infiltration into inflamed joints and the presence of ACPA in RA patients. Synovial fluid (SF) samples were obtained from 42 patients (Male/Female: 8/34; mean age: 53±13 years) who full-filled the American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) RA classification criteria. All patients gave informed consent and the protocol of the study was approved by the ethic board from IBYME (CE 003-2/2013). Disease activity was evaluated by 28-joint count Disease Activity Score (DAS-28) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was determined by Westergren method. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) ACPA were measured using QuantLite CCP3 ELISA kit and total IgG levels were determined by radial immunodiffusion assay. We found that neutrophil numbers infiltrating inflamed joints correlated positively with DAS-28, suggesting that the presence of high numbers of these cells is related with severe disease manifestations (p