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Letter
Anti-modified citrullinated vimentin (MCV) antibodies in patients with very early synovitis
  1. Karim Raza1,2,
  2. Linda Mathsson3,
  3. Christopher D Buckley1,2,
  4. Andrew Filer1,2,
  5. Johan Rönnelid3
  1. 1MRC Centre for Immune Regulation, School of Immunity and Infection, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
  2. 2Department of Rheumatology, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, Birmingham, UK
  3. 3Unit of Clinical Immunology, Department of Oncology, Radiology and Clinical Immunology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  1. Correspondence to Dr K Raza, MRC Centre for Immune Regulation, School of Immunity and Infection, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK; k.raza{at}bham.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/ard.2009.118448

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    Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (CCP) antibodies are very specific for the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients with very early synovitis.1 Their predictive value is underscored by their high weighting in an algorithm validated in patients with undifferentiated synovitis of ≤3 months' duration.2 However, using this algorithm, one cannot accurately predict the outcome in 25% of patients and additional predictive markers are needed. We have reported that antibodies against type II collagen were unhelpful in this phase of the disease.3 Several groups have measured anti-modified citrullinated vimentin (MCV) antibodies in patients with RA. In patients with symptoms of >12 months' duration, the specificity and sensitivity of anti-MCV were 95% and 71%, respectively.4 The enhanced sensitivity compared with anti-CCP2 raised the possibility of its clinical utility. Subsequently, in patients with synovitis of >2 years' duration, a specificity …

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    Footnotes

    • Funding This work was supported by the Arthritis Research Campaign and the European Community's Sixth Framework Programme (AUTOCURE).

    • Competing interests None.

    • Ethics approval This study was conducted with the approval of the Sandwell and West Birmingham local research ethics committee.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.