[Anti-collagen antibodies. Their detection in rheumatoid polyarthritis, chronic atrophic polychondritis and various chronic inflammatory rheumatism].

The authors administered by passive haemagglutination, natural or denatured type I and II anticollagen antibodies in the serum of 83 rheumatoid polyarthritis, 20 ankylosing spondylarthritis, 30 relapsing polychondritis, 13 diffuse sclerodermics, 12 Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome patients. Type II natural anti-collagen antibodies are common in relapsing polychondritis (37 percent). They are rarer in rheumatoid polyarthritis (15 percent) and the frequency is identical to that found in patients suffering from gonarthrosis and coxarthrosis. Natural type II anti-collagen antibodies may be occur in etiopathogenesis of relapsing polychondritis. Denatured II ant-collagen antibodies are common during ankylosing spondylarthritis (35 percent) and diffuse sclerodermia, and are found in rheumatoid polyarthritis (23 percent) and in Gougerot Sjögren syndrome (25 percent). They possibly play a pathological role in these diseases although this has not been proved. They are detected almost as often in the synovial fluid of inflammatory rheumatisms (53 percent) and in gonarthrosis (41 percent).