CONNECTIVE-TISSUE ACTIVATION .19. PLASMA-LEVELS OF THE CTAP-III PLATELET ANTIGEN IN RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 7  (6) , 814-819
Abstract
Plasma levels of platelet granule proteins CTAP-III [connective tissue-activating peptide-III] and .beta.-thromboglobulin (.beta.-TG) were measured by radioimmunoassay of their common antigen (CTAP-Ag). Healthy adults had 29.4 .+-. 5.8 ng CTAP-Ag/ml plasma; patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) had higher levels of the CTAP-Ag (range 23-260 ng/ml, median 43 ng/ml, P < .006). RA patients with CTAP-Ag levels greater than 50 ng/ml (mean 104.8 ng/ml) were compared to patients having lower CTAP-Ag levels. Patients in the group with elevated plasma CTAP-Ag levels had higher [erythrocyte] sedimentation rates (P < 0.005) and higher platelet counts (P < 0.05). Anemia was more common in patients with abnormal CTAP-Ag levels.