The Anti-CCP antibodies are a collection of ACPA.
ACPA are present in 50% of patients with early Rheumatoid arthritis.It has been shown that detecting ACPA can help identify patients with early arthritis who need aggressive treatment.New insights into the pathophysiology of RA have been provided by ACPA.New concepts of the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms have arisen from the association of certain genetic and environmental risk factors.The fact that ACPA-positive patients have a more severe disease course with greater joint destruction has fueled the hypothesis that they may be a problem.There is no direct proof for this intriguing theory, but it is clear that ACPA allow the classification of RA patients into two different disease subsets that are associated with distinct pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical outcomes.Patients with Rheumatoid arthritis have a large impact on their quality of life.Diagnostic markers which can reliably predict disease development and progression are needed in order to be able to prevent disease progression and joint destruction.There are some diagnostic markers that are attractive.Rheumatoid factor (RF) has been known to be a marker of future RA development, but more recently, a better diagnostic and predictive marker has emerged in the form of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies.