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Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases logoLink to Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
. 1988 Aug;47(8):665–671. doi: 10.1136/ard.47.8.665

Serum alpha 1 antichymotrypsin concentration as a marker of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis.

M D Chard 1, J Calvin 1, C P Price 1, T E Cawston 1, B L Hazleman 1
PMCID: PMC1006719  PMID: 3261967

Abstract

Serum alpha 1 antichymotrypsin (alpha 1ACT), C reactive protein (CRP), orosomucoid, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were measured sequentially in 20 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with gold or penicillamine. Pain score, morning stiffness, grip strength, and articular index were measured and a Mallya score calculated. Based on a total of 148 sets of observations, significant correlations were found between alpha 1ACT and other variables (p less than 0.001 except morning stiffness at p less than 0.05). The actual correlation coefficients indicated a closer association with the other laboratory tests, CRP (0.62), orosomucoid (0.69), and ESR (0.61), than with clinical measurements: pain score (0.38), articular index (0.41), grip strength (-0.3), morning stiffness (0.19), and Mallya score (0.5). Sequential data on individual patients showed differing patterns of change in the variables indicating the importance of measuring more than one acute phase protein (APP), especially when CRP is inappropriately low. Serum alpha 1ACT concentration does reflect disease activity in RA. Its potential advantages are discussed.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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