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Rheumatoid Factor in RA

Associating RF with disease activity

Publish date:: August 31, 2015

The presence of rheumatoid factor (RF) has a clear association with higher levels of disease activity, but the presence of autoantibodies against citrullinated proteins (ACPAs) appears to be associated with lower disease activity, according to a study of 2,118 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Researchers found:

• RF⁺ patients, regardless of ACPA status, had the highest levels of disease activity.

• ACPA⁺ patients had disease activity that was similar to or lower than that of ACPA^- patients, in both the presence and absence of RF.

• When matched for ACPA levels, patients with highly positive RF had significantly higher disease activity for all composite indices compared with patients who were RF^-.

• ACPA-highly-positive and ACPA-negative patients matched for RF levels had similar disease activity.

Citation: Aletah D, Alsati F, Smolen JS. Rheumatoid factor, not antibodies against citrullinated proteins, is associated with baseline disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis clinical trials. Arth Res Ther. 2015, 17:229. doi: 10.1186/s13075-015-0736-9.

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