J Rheum Dis 2022; 29(3): 171-180  
Clinical Implications of Shared Epitope and Anti-citrullinated Peptide Antibody in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis
Seung Min Jung, M.D., Ph.D., Yune-Jung Park, M.D., Ph.D., Kyung-Su Park, M.D., Ph.D., Ki-Jo Kim, M.D., Ph.D.
Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, St. Vincent’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
Correspondence to: Ki-Jo Kim, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3598-2396
Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, St. Vincent’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 93 Jungbu-daero, Paldal-gu, Suwon 16247, Korea. E-mail: md21c@catholic.ac.kr
Received: March 18, 2022; Revised: April 26, 2022; Accepted: May 13, 2022; Published online: July 1, 2022.
© Korean College of Rheumatology.

This is a open Access article, which permits unrestricted non-commerical use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Objective: The shared epitope (SE) and anti-citrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA) are involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study evaluated the clinical implications of SE and ACPA in terms of disease manifestation and response to biologic disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).
Methods: Patients with identified human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DRB1 alleles were included to compare the clinical characteristics and drug survival rate of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors or abatacept based on the presence of SE and ACPA.
Results: Of the 533 patients with identified HLA-DRB1 alleles, 329 patients (61.7%) with SE alleles showed higher disease activity and erosive changes compared to patients without SE alleles. SE-positive patients were more likely to start biologic (b-) or targeted synthetic DMARDs (tsDMARDs) within the first 5 years (p=0.020). The presence of SE, smoking, dyslipidemia, and higher erythrocyte sedimentation rate were independently associated with the initiation of b- or tsDMARDs (p=0.016, 0.028, 0.031, and 0.001, respectively). The presence of SE and ACPA did not affect the drug survival rate of TNF inhibitors, whereas the abatacept retention rate was higher in ACPA-positive patients (p=0.024).
Conclusion: The presence of SE affected disease characteristics and prognosis in Korean patients with RA without a significant impact on drug survival rate of TNF inhibitors and abatacept. ACPA positivity was associated with abatacept drug retention, suggesting that abatacept may be helpful in ACPA-positive patients than in ACPA-negative patients.
Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, Epitopes, Antibodies, Abatacept

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