The Anti-MCV Elisa by Orgentec Diagnostika uses mutated citrullinated vimentin (MCV), a naturally occurring protein, highly specific for rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease leading to progressive joint damage, chronic pain, impaired mobility and early retirement.
During the inflammation reaction endogenous proteins are modified by enzymatically converting Arginin residues in the protein to Citrullin.
The immune response to these modified self-antigens contributes to the pathogenesis of the disease and autoantibodies against citrullinated proteins are well known serological markers in rheumatoid arthritis.
Two different types of Elisa-assays for the determination of these autoantibodies are currently available.
The Anti-MCV Elisa by Orgentec Diagnostika uses mutated citrullinated vimentin (MCV), a naturally occurring protein, highly specific for the disease.
In contrast to that anti-CCP-tests contain mixtures of synthetic citrullinated peptide antigens.
A study by Linda Mathsson, Johan Ronnelid and their colleagues published in the January issue of the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism evaluates the sensitivity, specificity, and prognostic value of antibodies against modified citrullinated vimentin as compared to antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptides in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis.
The authors used the Anti-MCV Elisa by Orgentec Diagnostika for the determination of autoantibody levels in 273 patients with rheumatoid arthritis at baseline, after three months, one, two, three and five years and in 100 healthy controls.
The results were linked to clinical parameters and compared to levels of anti-CCP.
Their findings demonstrate, that analysis of Anti-MCV yields exceeding sensitivity and high diagnostic specificity.
Anti-MCV also performs better in identifying poor radiographic prognosis.
Strongly significant positive correlations were found between changes in anti-MCV-levels and changes of clinical parameters like ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), HAQ (health assessment questionnaire), physician's assessment of disease activity, number of swollen joints and DAS28 (disease activity score) assessment during the first year of antirheumatic therapy.
The same strong relationships were not observed for changes of anti-CCP-levels and disease activity.
The authors conclude that the Anti-MCV test is a promising diagnostic and prognostic marker in early rheumatoid arthritis because Anti-MCV has a higher sensitivity than anti-CCP and defines a group of patients with poor prognosis.
