Large-scale multicenter study reveals anticitrullinated SR-A peptide antibody as a biomarker and exacerbator for rheumatoid arthritis

Sci Adv. 2025 Jan 3;11(1):eadr8078. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adr8078. Epub 2025 Jan 3.

Abstract

Current diagnosis and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is still challenging. More than one-third of patients with RA could not be accurately diagnosed because of lacking biomarkers. Our recent study reported that scavenger receptor-A (SR-A) is a biomarker for RA, especially for anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (anti-CCP)-negative RA. Here, we further identified the B cell autoantigenic epitopes of SR-A. By a large-scale multicenter study including one training and three validation cohorts of 1954 participants, we showed that anticitrullinated SR-A peptide antibody (anti-CSP) was exclusively elevated in RA as a biomarker, particularly useful for seronegative RA. Combination of anti-CSP with anti-CCP demonstrated superior diagnostic value for RA, with sensitivity of 84.83% and specificity of 92.43%. Moreover, RA anti-CSP revealed distinct glycosylation patterns, capable of provoking inflammation in cartilage organoids and exacerbating disease progression in experimental arthritis. Together, these data identify anti-CSP as an RA autoantibody clinically applicable and actively involved in disease pathogenesis.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Animals
  • Anti-Citrullinated Protein Antibodies / blood
  • Anti-Citrullinated Protein Antibodies / immunology
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid* / blood
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid* / diagnosis
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid* / immunology
  • Autoantibodies* / blood
  • Autoantibodies* / immunology
  • Autoantigens / immunology
  • Biomarkers*
  • Female
  • Glycosylation
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Middle Aged
  • Peptides, Cyclic / immunology

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Autoantibodies
  • Peptides, Cyclic
  • Anti-Citrullinated Protein Antibodies
  • Autoantigens