Antimycobacterial hsp65 and rheumatoid factor titres in a population of normal twins: evidence of genetic control of rheumatoid factor.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease and rheumatoid factor (RF), anti-IgG, has been implicated in the pathogenesis, but the exact etiology remains unclear. There are data to suggest and infectious trigger to the autoimmune process, and mycobacteria are considered a candidate. Immunization of various animals with mycobacterial heat shock protein 65 (mhsp65) protects against subsequent autoimmune arthritis in a number of experimental models. Elevated anti-mhsp65 titres have been demonstrated in RA patients, together with specific T cells isolated from inflamed synovium. Mycobacterial hsp65 has also been implicated in other autoimmune disease and in atherosclerosis. The anti-mhsp65 and RF (IgG, IgM and IgA isotypes) titres were assayed by ELISA in 123 pairs of normal twins (61 monozygotic and 62 dizygotic, age 14-79 years), to examine the population distribution and inter-relationship of these antibodies. In addition, we studied the effects of age, sex, genetics and environment on antibody titres. IgG-RF and IgM-RF were detectable in all subjects and IgA-RF in 41 subjects. None of the RF isotypes showed any significant dependence on age or sex. There was a statistically significant correlation between twins for the IgG-RF and IgM-RF, and a positive but not significant correlation for the IgA-RF. All three correlations were stronger for monozygotic than dizygotic twins, reaching statistical significance for IgM-RF (P < 0.001), and this indicates that there is a genetic influence on RF titres. Anti-mhsp65 titres were detectable in 90.5% of the study group with a range of 0.15-19.7 AU/ml. There were weak correlations between twins, stronger for dizygotic than monozygotic twins. This suggests that familial influences on anti-mhsp65 titres are very small, with no evidence of any genetic influence at all. There was no significant relationship of anti-mhsp65 titre with age, sex or RF titres.