A recent study has demonstrated the superior performance of Anti-MCV for diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
RA is the most common chronic inflammatory joint disease, affecting 0.5 per cent to one per cent of the world's population.
It is characterised by synovial joint inflammation, which leads to progressive joint destruction, impaired mobility and disability.
Early efficient treatment improves the outcome and may prevent irreversible damages.
Specific antibodies such as rheumatoid factor (RF) and autoantibodies to mutated citrullinated vimentin (Anti-MCV) or cyclic citrullinated peptides (Anti-CCP) are serological markers for rheumatoid arthritis and indispensable tools for diagnosing the disease.
Pascale Nicaise-Roland, Sylvie Chollet-Martin and their co-workers compared the effectiveness of Anti-MCV with Anti-CCP for diagnosing RA and monitoring the effect of therapy with Infliximab, an antibody that inhibits the activity of the inflammatory mediator TNF-alpha, in 80 RA patients with Anti-CCP antibodies and 76 patients without.
Serum Anti-MCV and Anti-CCP titres were measured in 23 patients after 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of Infliximab treatment and connected to improvements of clinical symptoms shown as DAS28 (disease activity score) response.
Anti-MCV antibodies were detected in 88.75 per cent of patients that were Anti-CCP positive and in 11.8 per cent of RA patients without Anti-CCP.
Anti-MCV was positive in 7.9 per cent of patients that tested negative for Anti-CCP and RF.
In patients that responded to the therapy, Anti-MCV-titres were reduced after 18 and 24 months of Infliximab therapy.
In addition, the decline of Anti-MCV significantly correlated with DAS28 score improvements of the clinical symptoms.
Displaying equivalent sensitivity and specificity Anti MCV antibodies, in contrast with Anti-CCP, document the effects of treatment with TNF-alpha blocking agents, providing the rheumatologist with unprecedented opportunities for monitoring therapy outcome.
