Abstract
We report a 48-year-old man who developed rheumatoid arthritis (RA) after a successful treatment with peg-IFN-alpha plus ribavirin for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. He had a history of smoking and a single copy of the HLA-DRB1 shared epitope (SE). In a retrospective analysis, he exhibited the anti-CCP antibodies before the start of IFN plus ribavirin treatment. However, the titers of anti-CCP antibodies and BAFF levels were elevated by the IFN plus ribavirin therapy. These observations suggest that IFN plus ribavirin therapy may work as a "trigger" for RA in genetically and environmentally predisposed individuals by affecting the cytokine network.
MeSH terms
-
Antiviral Agents / adverse effects*
-
Arthritis, Rheumatoid / etiology*
-
Arthritis, Rheumatoid / immunology
-
Arthritis, Rheumatoid / pathology
-
Autoantibodies / blood
-
B-Cell Activating Factor / blood
-
Cytokines / metabolism
-
Hepatitis C, Chronic / drug therapy
-
Hepatitis C, Chronic / immunology
-
Humans
-
Interferon Type I / adverse effects*
-
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
-
Male
-
Middle Aged
-
Peptides, Cyclic / immunology
-
Recombinant Proteins
-
Ribavirin / adverse effects*
-
Risk Factors
Substances
-
Antiviral Agents
-
Autoantibodies
-
B-Cell Activating Factor
-
Cytokines
-
Interferon Type I
-
Peptides, Cyclic
-
Recombinant Proteins
-
TNFSF13B protein, human
-
cyclic citrullinated peptide
-
Ribavirin