Iga-alpha-1-antitrypsin complex as a predictive factor for development of radiological deterioration in early rheumatoid arthritis patients? Three years follow up study

In the present study we followed the levels of serum IgA-alpha-1-antitrypsin complex (IgA-AT) in 71 early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients during the first 3 years of the disease duration. The changes in IgA-AT were correlated with progression of radiological damage score (PDS) of hands assessed according to Larsen. The IgA-AT serum concentration was significantly higher as compared to the control group (0.65 " 0.27 U, vs. 0.31 " 0.13 U, p <0.01) at the onset of the study. The level remain unchanged during the three-years observation. Damage Score signifficantly increased during the study period and PDS was 22.1 " 15.5. Finally, we found a good correlation between IgA-AT complex at the beginning of the disease and PDS (r=0.4815, p <0.01). Based on the obtained relationship between IgA-AT level and radiological progression we suggest that IgA-AT estimation at the begenning of the disease may be helpful in prognosis and monitoring the patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.