Frequency of serological markers of rheumatoid arthritis in adult patients with active celiac disease

Abstract

Background: Celiac disease (CD) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are multisystem autoimmune diseases affecting 1% of general populationa. Both diseases share genetic and immunological features. Aim: In this retrospective study, we aim to determine the frequency of auto-antibodies of RA in adult patients with CD. Materials and methods: Seventy seven adult patients with active CD were included in the present study. Ninety healthy blood donors (HBD) served as control group. Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides antibodies (CCP-Ab) and rheumatoid factors (RF; IgA, IgG and IgM) were determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for patients and control group. For statistical analysis, we used Chi-square or Fisher's exact test. Results: Our study included 77 adult patients with active celiac disease (57 female, 20 male). Twenty-four (31.2%) active celiac patients and 7 (7.8%) blood donors had CCP-Ab or RF (31.2% vs 7.8%, p < 10–4). Only two patients (2.6%) had both CCP-Ab and RF. IgA was the predominant isotype of RF in celiac patients (n = 18; 23.4%) while none of healthy blood donors had RF-IgA (23.4% vs 0.0%, p < 10–4). Conclusion: The current study has shown that CD is associated with a high frequency of RF-IgA suggesting that celiac patients could be at a higher risk of developing RA.