Invariable Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide Antibody Levels in Patients with Hereditary Hemochromatosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis - Abstract
Hereditary Hemochromatosis (HH) is a disorder known to increase iron levels in the body due to dysfunction in the HFE gene and thus iron studies are generally used in order to diagnose HH. HH can cause a wide variety of clinical manifestations including arthropathy but currently there are no lab studies that can be performed in order to distinguish Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) from HH. This relationship of concurrent RA and HH was further explored. HH has several different allele types including 365C, H63D, and C282Y and each of these allele types were assessed in relation to RA using various biomarkers. These studies demonstrate that patients with specific allele types of HH and concurrent RA actually have normal anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP). AntiCCP is generally elevated in patients with RA and thus warrants an alternate method of diagnosis in patients with HH and possible RA.