Prevalence of antikeratin antibodies in Greek patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A clinical, serologic, and immunogenetic study.

OBJECTIVE

The presence of antikeratin antibodies (AKA) has been associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients from north and central Europe. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of AKA in Greek patients with RA.

METHODS

One hundred and twenty two sera of Greek patients with RA were tested for the presence of AKA by an indirect immunofluorescence technique, and HLA-DR typing was performed by restriction fragment length polymorphism.

RESULTS

Nineteen of 122 (16%) Greek patients with RA were positive for AKA. The percentage of AKA in Greek patients with RA is lower than described previously. These antibodies correlated with a male preponderance (p < 0.01) and were associated with the presence of rheumatoid factor (RF) (p < 0.05) and with HLA-DR1 antigen (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that AKA are present frequently in Greek patients with RA. Their presence was found to be associated with RF and HLA-DR1 antigen. This emphasizes the different clinical expression of RA in Greece.