Electronic Journal of Biology

Biocomputational Analysis of Filaggrin Sequence Repeats for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Anti-citrullinated antibodies are autoantibodies detected in the blood of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in the early stage. These autoantibodies recognize an epitope of citrullinated peptides found on the surface of filaggrin protein and are cross-reactive in immune response. Since the expression of filaggrin protein is associated with autoantibodies secretion, it may act as a potential serological marker for the detection of RA in early stage. In the present study, the contribution of filaggrin sequence repeats towards antigenicity was investigated using bioinformatic approaches. The electrostatic potential of citrullinated filaggrin repeats and its antigenicity was found to be the prominent factors for invoking such an immune response.

Author(s): Sivakumar Prasanth Kumar, Saumya K. Patel, Yogesh T. Jasrai,, Himanshu A. Pandya, Pappu Srinivasan

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