Anti-CCP antibodies in the blood are the most specific proteins for Rheumatoid Arthritis, So that clinical decision cannot neglect positive anti-ccp results when diagnosing RA disease.
Modern guidelines recommend for integration of Positive RF test and Positive Anti-CCP test along with RA signs and symptoms to diagnose rheumatoid arthritis illness for sure.
But, sometimes a person has joint pain every morning and bone pain, etc, his/her doctor will recommend RF, Anti-ccp tests as an Rheumatoid preliminary panel, the person go to the laboratory to ensure that he or she doesn't has Rheumatoid.
And surprise, RF test came negative which means no rheumatoid, and accp test cam positive, which means strong evidence of rheumatoid, the average person doesn't know how medical decision is made for rheumatoid.
A.CCP antibodies are found exclusively in rheumatoid disease and rarely in other autoimmune conditions, such as lupus, Graves disease, Sjogren syndrome, and sometimes in tuberculosis infections, so that the ACCP result is a very strong sign of the onset of rheumatoid disease even if the RF test still not shown positive.
Abstract from a study about diagnostic tests for rheumatoid arthritis including comparison of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies, anti-keratin antibodies and IgM rheumatoid factors
The official link: rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/content/41/7/809.full.pdf
- Objectives
. To examine the value of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies,
anti-keratin antibodies (AKA) and immunoglobulin M rheumatoid factors (IgM RF) in
discriminating between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other rheumatic diseases, and to
determine whether the clinical manifestations or severity of erosions in RA are associated with
anti-CCP positivity.
- Methods
. In a cross-sectional study, we determined the concentrations or titres of these three
markers in 179 RA patients and 50 controls. Erosions were quantified using the Larsen score in
129 patients.
- Results
. Sensitivity was highest for IgM RF (75%), followed by anti-CCP antibodies (68%)
and AKA (46%). Specificity was highest for anti-CCP antibodies (96%), followed by AKA (94%)
and IgM RF (74%). A correlation with clinical manifestations and severity of erosions was
observed mainly for IgM RF positivity.
- Conclusions
. With their excellent specificity, anti-CCP antibodies can be useful in establishing
the diagnosis of RA, but IgM RF is a better predictor of disease severity.
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