[The clinical significance of cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies: new data]

Early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a challenge due to an insufficient specificity of its clinical signs and a low sensitivity of presently used clinico-laboratory criteria. Cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies (CCPA) are nowadays considered the most promising diagnostic and prognostic RA marker. A heterogeneous group of citrullinated peptides are the target for CCPA. The sensitivity of CCPA is comparable to that of the rheumatoid factor (RF), while its specificity for this disease is much higher. CCPA detection may be very useful for diagnostics of early sero-negative RA, differential diagnosis between RA and other rheumatic diseases, and for the prognosis of severe erosive articular lesion. Simultaneous detection of RF and CCPA allow for early RA diagnostics, which is important for timely administration of a more aggressive basic antirheumatic therapy.