Prevalence of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL): a case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Antibodies against citrullinated proteins (ACPA) have been recognised as the most specific serum marker for rheumatoid arthritis. However, serum autoantibodies such as anti-nuclear antibodies have also been detected in the sera of different lymphatic malignancies without accompanying rheumatologic disease. Therefore, we conducted a study to evaluate the prevalence of ACPA in diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (DLBCL). METHODS: Sera of 395 DLBCL patients and 258 age-matched healthy controls were investigated to evaluate the prevalence of ACPA and RF. ACPA-positive data were stratified into subgroups of RF positivity and established prognostic parameters for DLBCL, including overall survival. In addition, the ACPA serum concentrations levels were compared to an ACPA-positive RA cohort (n = 175). The statistics were performed with χ2 test and Mann- Whitney-U test; Kaplan-Meyer curves (log rank test) were used to analyse the overall survival. P-value