/As a consequence of impaired immune regulatory mechanisms there is a hyperactivity of B lymphocytes and excessive immunoglobulin production in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Elevated levels of IgG and IgA are shown in several studies. In this study, we measured the immunoglobulin levels of the patients with RA in both activation and remission periods, and tried to determine if the IgA levels can be used as an activity criterion. We also tried to determine the rate of the selective IgA deficiency in a large population of RA patients and correlation of these findings with other laboratory and clinical parameters.
The findings from these patients with RA suggest that: 1) Polyclonal hypergamaglobulinemia, which is seen in activation periods, is not seen in remission periods. 2) Elevation IgA levels seems to be a strong and elevation of IgG is a weak indicator for activity of RA. Also, the selective IgA deficiency, that is seen in. 025% to 0.03% of the normal population , was not present our RA patient group.
Key Words: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Immunoglobulin A (IgA), Immunoglobulin ö (IgG)
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