RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Specificity of rheumatoid factors in relation to the disease state in rheumatoid arthritis.
JF Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
JO Ann Rheum Dis
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and European League Against Rheumatism
SP 757
OP 762
DO 10.1136/ard.49.10.757
VO 49
IS 10
A1 M G Jones
A1 M E Shipley
A1 J P Hearn
A1 F C Hay
YR 1990
UL http://ard.bmj.com/content/49/10/757.abstract
AB Rheumatoid factors found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis react with human IgG and with IgG from some other species. The levels of rheumatoid factor give some indication of prognosis, albeit a rather poor one in this highly variable disease. The high degree of variability may, in part, be due to differences in the fine specificity of the rheumatoid factor in each individual patient, leading to differences in the types of immune complex formed. To study this hypothesis the fine specificity of rheumatoid factors of the IgM, IgA, and IgG classes for IgG from human, baboon, orangutan, macaque, owl monkey, gorilla, marmoset, cow, pig, sheep, goat, horse, mouse, and chicken was examined. Differential reactivity for these species was found and associations between the presence of rheumatoid factor and the development of moderate or severe erosions.