Autoantibody profiles in juvenile arthritis.

Serologic and correlational testing was performed in a series of 65 patients diagnosed as having juvenile arthritis (JA) and in 21 age matched controls to detect the presence of antinuclear antibodies (ANA), antibodies to ssDNA, IgM and IgG rheumatoid factor (RF), immune complexes (IC) and antibodies to bovine type I and human type II collagen. ANA were found in 51% of the JA patients; the highest incidence (75%) was noted in the pauciarticular onset disease group. Low levels of anti-ssDNA antibodies were detected in 22% of the patients, all of whom had active disease. IgM RF was detected in 35% of the JA patients but only 6% of patients had IgG RF. Similarly, about one fourth of the JA patients had IC detected by the Clq assay. Antibodies to bovine type I and human type II collagen were noted in about 12% of the JA patients.