Rheumatoid arthritis and its association with HLA-DR antigens. II. Antibodies to native connective tissue antigens detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.

The distribution of frequencies of HLA-DR alloantigens in HLA-DR4 negative subjects was determined in patients with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and normal individuals. An increased incidence of HLA-DR1 alloantigen in DR4 negative RA patients (45.9%) compared with DR4 negative healthy controls (23.6%) was found. The difference became significant when the incidence of DR1 was compared between patients with severe disease stages (III-IV) (75%) in contrast to 32% of incidence in patients of the milder stages (I-II) (p less than 0.05). Using Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay we have determined the incidence of serum antibodies to native bovine type I and type II collagens and proteoglycans in patients with RA. Presence of serum antibodies to native type I collagen was detected in 59% of patients with RA, 60% of sera exhibited reactivity to type II collagen and 12% had antibodies to proteoglycans. There was no correlation between the presence of antibodies to type I and II collagens and disease stages, however, the incidence of serum antibodies to proteoglycans was increased in severe disease stages. On the other hand, the presence of high levels of antibodies to type I collagen was associated to HLA-DR1 antigen, (p less than 0.05).