Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The rheumatoid factor (RF) is the most common antibody found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It is an inflammatory chronic disease characterized by articular involvement, inflammation of synovial fluid, tissue infiltration by leucocytes and joint destruction, which ultimately determine articular deformities. The rheumatoid factor is found in 70%-80% of the adult population and in 10% of the young population. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this research was to compare immunoturbidimetric and latex agglutination methods for the detection of RF in serum. RESULTS: The immunoturbidimetric method displayed sensitivity (95.2%), specificity (89.4%) and high positive correlation (R² = 0,8077) with the latex agglutination method in positive serum samples. CONCLUSION: The study allowed to demonstrate that both immunoturbidimetric and latex agglutination methods equally discriminate between negative and positive serum samples for RF.
Highlights
The rheumatoid factor (RF) is the most common antibody found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
As described by Waaler in 1937, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) present auto-reactive antibodies against Fc fraction of immunoglobulin G in serum
Detection of RF by latex agglutination method samples were analyzed from a total of 304, from which 8.82% (24 samples) were considered positive after the appliance of semi-quantitative test
Summary
The rheumatoid factor (RF) is the most common antibody found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In spite of the close association between the rise in RF and the triggering of inflammatory disease, the RF may play a major physiological role in the regulation of autoimmune response as a whole: a) immune complex clearance: the RFs of immunoglobulin G (IgC) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) isotypes bind to immune complexes (complexes formed in the connection of antigens and their specific antibodies) in order to promote their opsonization, enabling complex removal by phagocytic cells[5, 14]; b) antigen processing and presentation by lymphocytes B (LB): the capture of RF by LB allows antigen internalization so that it may process these molecules and present them to lymphocytes T (LT)(5); c) activation of complement system by immune complexes, making them more soluble and, eliminated[14].
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