ArticleArthritis research & therapy2026
The rheumatoid arthritis citrullinome is enriched in antigenic complement proteins.
Article in Arthritis research & therapy, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Aggrecan and polymeric immunoglobulin receptor in extracellular vesicles of patients with seropositive rheumatoid arthritis.Journal of translational autoimmunity · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesCitrullination is a post-translational modification that serves as an autoantigen in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). It remains unclear whether there is an excess production of specific citrullinated proteins in RA patients that is driving the autoantibody response. The aim of this study was to undertake an unsupervised proteomic analysis of the circulating RA citrullinome, and determine the consequences of citrullination in RA.
methodsCitrullinated serum proteins were isolated and measured by mass spectrometry from 10 anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) positive RA patients and 10 controls. Cit-proteins and cit-immune complexes (IC) were measured in a larger cohort of unaffected first-degree relatives (FDR, ACPA- n = 31, ACPA+ n = 26) and RA (n = 31). Autoantibodies to citrullinated C9, and linear peptides of citrullinated C9 were measured. Structural changes imparted by citrullination were studied in-silico using Alphafold 3.0.
resultsDifferential analysis of the RA citrullinome revealed a higher expression of complement proteins. Validation studies revealed that the levels of cit-C9 (p = 0.02) and cit-CFI (Complement Factor I, p = 0.019) were higher in RA than controls. Cit-C9 IgG, but not cit-CFI, immune complexes were elevated in ACPA+ FDR (p < 0.0001) and RA (p < 0.0001) compared to ACPA- FDR. Autoantibodies to cit-C9 were also higher in ACPA+ FDR (p = 0.01) and RA (p = 0.002). Reactivity to linear peptides of cit/homocit C9 were enriched in RA patients compared to controls. In-silico modelling revealed structural changes to the monomeric and multimeric structure of cit-C9.
conclusionThis analysis of the circulating citrullinome in RA reveals the generation of citrullinated complement proteins that serve as autoantigens.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.