Antibody response to the human stress protein BiP in rheumatoid arthritis

January 17, 2005

M. D. Bodman-, V. M. Corrigall, E. Berglin1, H. R. Cornell, A. G.

Tzioufas2, C. P. Mavragani2, C. Chan, S. Rantapää-Dahlqvist1 and G. S.

Panayi

Department of Rheumatology, GKT School of Medicine, King's College London,

Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT, UK, 1 Department of Rheumatology, University

Hospital, Umeå, Sweden and 2 Department of Pathophysiology, School of

Medicine, University of Athens, Greece.

Correspondence to: M. Bodman-, St 's Hospital Medical School,

London SW17 0RE, UK. E-mail: mbodmans@...

Objectives. The human stress protein BiP (immunoglobulin binding protein)

has been implicated in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) since

BiP was found to stimulate synovial T-cell proliferation and anti-BiP

antibodies are present in the serum of RA patients. The aim of this study

was the development of a rapid and reproducible enzyme-linked immunosorbent

assay (ELISA) to determine the specificity and sensitivity of anti-BiP

antibodies in RA.

Methods. An ELISA was developed that detected antibodies to BiP. The

prevalence of anti-BiP antibodies was determined in sera from patients with

early and established RA, sera antedating the onset of RA and sera from

patients with other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and healthy

controls.

Results. We have confirmed the increased prevalence of antibodies to BiP in

the sera of a large cohort of patients with established RA (specificity 71%

and sensitivity 73%) and early RA (specificity 65% and sensitivity 66%). In

pre-disease sera, median 2.5 yr (interquartile range 1.14.7) before

symptoms of joint disease, the sensitivity for anti-BiP antibodies was 45%

and the specificity was 65% for the development of RA.

Conclusion. Antibodies to BiP are found in the sera of patients with RA and

in sera antedating the onset of RA.

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