Anti-CCP antibodies are not a marker of severity in established rheumatoid arthritis: a magnetic resonance imaging study.

INTRODUCTION: The presence of anti-CCP is an important prognostic tool of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). But research is still ongoing on its relationship with disease activity and functional capacity.

OBJECTIVES: To study the relationship between anti-CCP and disease activity, functional capacity and structural damage indexes, by means of conventional radiography (CR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in cases of established RA.

METHODS: Cross-sectional study with RA patients with 1-10 disease duration. Participants underwent clinical evaluation with anti-CCP. Disease activity was assessed using the Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI), and functional capacity through the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ). CR analysis was carried out by the Sharp van der Heijde index (SvdH), and MRI analysis by RAMRIS (Rheumatoid Arthritis Magnetic Resonance Image Scoring).

RESULTS: We evaluated 56 patients, with a median (IqR) age of 55 (47.5-60) years; 50 (89.3%) participants were female and 37 (66.1%) were positive for anti-CCP. Medians (IqR) of CDAI, HAQ, SvdH and RAMRIS were 14.75 (5.42-24.97) 1.06 (0.28-1.75), 2 (0-8) and 15 (7-35), respectively. There was no association between anti-CCP and CDAI, HAQ and SvdH and RAMRIS scores.

CONCLUSION: Our results have not established an association of anti-CCP with the severity of disease. To date, we cannot corroborate anti-CCP as a prognostic tool in patients with established RA.