The specificity of the anti-Proteusantibody response in tissue-typed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients from Brest

✍ Scribed by M. Fielder; H. Tiwana; P. Youinou; P. Goff; R. Deonarain; C. Wilson; A. Ebringer

• Book ID: 104689990
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 394 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0172-8172
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00262713

✦ Synopsis

Anti-Proteus mirabilis antibody titres were found to be elevated in 50 active tissue-typed French rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients from Brest when compared to 49 healthy French controls using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; P < 0.001) and indirect immunofluorescence assay (IIFA; P < 0.001). However, there was no significant elevation in antibody titres against Escherichia coli or Salmonella typhimurium in the RA patients compared to the controls when measured by ELISA. Serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) were also found to be significantly higher in RA patients when compared to healthy control subjects (P < 0.001). These results suggest that P. mirabilis may play an important and specific role in the triggering and persistence of RA.