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Review
. 2004;6(2):86-9.
doi: 10.1186/ar1171. Epub 2004 Mar 10.

Anti-Sa antibodies: prognostic and pathogenetic significance to rheumatoid arthritis

Hani S El-Gabalawy  1 , John A Wilkins
Affiliations
Review

Anti-Sa antibodies: prognostic and pathogenetic significance to rheumatoid arthritis

Hani S El-Gabalawy et al. Arthritis Res Ther. 2004.

Abstract

Anti-Sa antibodies are detected in the serum of 20-47% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. These antibodies have a high degree of specificity for the disease, and appear to identify a subset of early rheumatoid arthritis patients destined to have aggressive and destructive disease. It has recently been confirmed that anti-Sa antibodies are directed to citrullinated vimentin, thus placing them in the anti-citrulline family of autoantibodies. The Sa antigen has previously been shown to be present in synovium. This, along with the demonstration of citrullinated proteins in rheumatoid synovium, suggests that anti-Sa antibodies may play a pathogenetic role in the initiation and/or persistence of rheumatoid synovitis.

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