الفهرس 
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Abstract
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that results in chronic systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs. It can be a disabling and painful condition which may lead to substantial loss of function and motility if not adequately treated. RA is the most common inflammatory disease of the joints, world-wide prevalence of RA is approximately 0.5-1% with high prevalence rate in females.
Autoantibodies have been associated with human pathologies for a long time, particularly with autoimmune diseases. Rheumatoid factor (RF) is known since the late 1930s to be associated with RA. The discovery of anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) was published in the late century. Other posttranslational modifications (PTM) relevant to RA like citrullination, carbamylation and oxidation were also reported. These two antibodies have association with more severe disease course and prediction of future disease development.
Antibodies to carbamylated proteins (anti-CarP antibodies) have been detected in the serum of RA patients. Carbamylation is a post-translational modification as a result of the conversion of amino acid lysine into homocitrulline in the presence of cyanate.
This study was designed to assess the level of serum anti-carbamylated protein antibodies (anti-CarP) in rheumatoid arthritis patients and its relation to disease activity and joint damage.
The study included 60 patients with rheumatoid arthritis who satisfied the ACR/EULAR classification criteria of RA and 20 healthy subjects, as a normal control group.
In the present study the majority of rheumatoid patients were females (93.3%), their ages ranged from 17-65 years with mean SD 41.911.3 and mean duration OF disease 6.85.8 .
There was highly significant statistical difference between patients and control groups as regard serum anti-CarP level and the best cut off point for serum anti-CarP level was 11.0, with specificity 90% and sensitivity 92%.
There was a significant association between anti-CarP antibodies and the presence of arthritis and morning stiffness.
On the other hand no correlation was found between serum anti-CarP antibodies with age, sex or disease duration of RA patients. In addition no stastical association was found between serum anti-CarP antibodies and disease activity or joint damage.
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