SEMNIFICAºIA DINAMICII ANTICORPILOR ANTI-PEPTID CICLIC CITRULINAT ÎN POLIARTRITA REUMATOIDÅ

Summary The significance of the dynamics of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis Aim: To assess the anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in order to correlate them with the severity of the disease and the therapeutic response. Patients and methods: The anti-CCP antibodies were analyzed in dynamics using the ELISA test in 30 RA patients (26 females and 4 males) aged between 49 and 70 years, diagnosed according to the ARA classification criteria. The patients were in different disease stages and were treated with disease modifying drugs (methotrexate, sulphasalazine, leflunomide). Results: The high levels of the anti-CCP antibodies (>15U/ml) were initially found at 24 patients with RA correlated with the severity of the inflammatory syndrome and other immunological abnormalities (high levels of total antinuclear antibodies and the rheumatoid factor). They were early influenced by the immunosuppressive treatment. Conclusions: The assessment of the dynamics of anti-CCP antibodies at patients with rheumatoid arthritis and treated with different immunosuppressive drugs could represent an important independent predictor of the disease course.