A1.5 Smoking is a risk factor for ACPA prior to onset of symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in a cohort from southern europe.
Cartwright AJ., Quirke AM., de Pablo P., Romaguera D., Panico S., Mattiello A., Gavrila D., Navarro C., Sacerdote C., Vineis P., Tumino R., Michaud D., Riboli E., Fisher BA., Venables PJ.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterised by antibodies to citrullinated proteins (ACPA) which may be present several years before development of clinical symptoms. Smoking is a known risk factor for the development of RA, but data is scarce on the relationship of smoking with specific subsets of ACPA in the years before disease onset. In this study we examined the immune response to citrullinated antigens and a detailed smoking history, in a nested case-control study of subjects enrolled in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) project who later developed RA.