Objective-To investigate the occurrence of anti-annexin V autoantibodi
es in sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis to assess involvement
with the disease and any relation to glucocorticoid treatment. Method
s-Anti-annexin V antibodies were measured by an enzyme linked immunoso
rbent assay (ELISA) which used the purified human recombinant protein
as antigen. Results-Concentrations of anti-annexin V autoantibodies, p
redominantly of the IgG class, were significantly raised in sera from
patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared to normal controls. This w
as not correlated with other indices of disease activity such as eryth
rocyte sedimentation rate or C reactive protein and was unrelated to g
lucocorticoid treatment. Conclusions-Extracellular annexin V provides
an antigenic stimulus for autoantibody production and its in vivo expr
ession is independent of glucocorticoid control. Such autoantibodies m
ay have a detrimental role in the arthritic condition by interfering w
ith putative functions of annexin V, including collagen type II bindin
g, inhibition of phospholipase A(2) activity, and Fc receptor activity
.