1. High prevalence of iga rheumatoid factor in severe polyarticular-onset juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, but not in systemic-onset or pauciarticular-onset disease
- Author
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Sharyn M. Walker, Riva Brik, Thomas J. A. Lehman, Virgil Hanson, Bram H. Bernstein, Bracha Shaham, Deborah McCurdy, Heidi Wietting, and Yogesh K. Arora
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,musculoskeletal diseases ,Adolescent ,Immunology ,Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ,Cell Separation ,Disease ,Immunoglobulin E ,Arthritis, Rheumatoid ,Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments ,Rheumatology ,Rheumatoid Factor ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,Rheumatoid factor ,Medicine ,Pharmacology (medical) ,Child ,skin and connective tissue diseases ,Cells, Cultured ,biology ,business.industry ,medicine.disease ,Immunoglobulin A ,Immunoglobulin Fc Fragments ,El Niño ,Child, Preschool ,Immunoglobulin G ,Rheumatoid arthritis ,biology.protein ,Female ,Polyarthritis ,Antibody ,business ,Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis - Abstract
The presence of IgA rheumatoid factor (IgA-RF) has been correlated with severe joint disease in adult rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but IgA-RF has not been reported in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). In the present study, IgA-RF was assayed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and was found in the sera of 14 of 24 children (58%) with active polyarticular JRA. The presence of IgA-RF correlated with the degree of functional disability. In contrast, IgA-RF was not found in the sera of systemic-onset disease patients, regardless of the degree of dysfunction. IgA-RF was detected in only 1 patient with pauciarticular disease, despite the fact that several patients in this group had severe disease. The presence of IgA-RF in polyarticular JRA did not correlate with serum IgA levels, but did correlate with the presence and the level of serum IgM-RF. Thus, the presence of IgA-RF appears to be specific for polyarticular JRA, and shows a correlation with severe disease in this group.
- Published
- 1990