ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1640291
Citrullinated peptides of peptidyl arginine deiminase 4 as major B cell epitopes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Provisionally accepted
- 1INSERM U1097 ARTHEMIS, MARSEILLE CEDEX 09, France
- 2INSERM CIC-1431, Centre Investigation Clinique, CHU Besançon, Besançon, France
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Objective: To identify new autoantibodies in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients’ sera. Methods: We tested serum samples from 55 patients with RA and 25 controls on arrays containing 188 peptides from the alpha and beta chain of fibrinogen, vimentin, histon 4, enolase, proteoglycan, filaggrin, collagen and human peptidyl arginine deiminase 4 (hPAD4). To confirm the validity of our peptide array detection, we tested serum samples from 50 patients with RA and 42 controls on purified peptides by luminescent enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: We found citrullinated peptides from hPAD4 that were recognized almost uniquely by sera from patients with RA on peptide arrays and ELISA. Peptide P22/60 from hPAD4 is a better RA diagnostic tool than the major classical citrullinated B cell epitopes from histon 4, proteoglycan, alpha fibrinogen, and enolase. Conclusion: We identified citrullinated peptides from hPAD4 as RA specific autoantigens
Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, antibodies to citrullinated proteins, Peptidyl arginine deiminase 4, Peptide Arrays, diagnosis
Received: 03 Jun 2025; Accepted: 14 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 GIASSI, TOUSSIROT, LAMBERT, ROUDIER and AUGER. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Isabelle AUGER, INSERM U1097 ARTHEMIS, MARSEILLE CEDEX 09, France
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