Background Antibodies against citrullinated proteins (ACPA) have been recognised as the most specific serum marker for rheumatoid arthritis. However, serum autoantibodies such as anti-nuclear antibodies have also been detected in the sera of different lymphatic malignancies without accompanying rheumatologic disease. Therefore, we conducted a study to evaluate the prevalence of ACPA in diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (DLBCL). Methods Sera of 395 DLBCL patients and 258 age-matched healthy controls were investigated to evaluate the prevalence of ACPA and RF. ACPA-positive data were stratified into subgroups of RF positivity and established prognostic parameters for DLBCL, including overall survival. In addition, the ACPA serum concentrations levels were compared to an ACPA-positive RA cohort (n = 175). The statistics were performed with χ2 test and Mann- Whitney-U test; Kaplan-Meyer curves (log rank test) were used to analyse the overall survival. P-value <0.05 was statistically significant. Results ACPA, but not RF, occurred significantly more frequently in the sera of DLBCL patients than in healthy controls (3.5% versus 0.8%, p = 0.030). However, the ACPA serum concentration levels were significantly lower than in RA patients (median 10.4 versus 124.1 U/ml, p = 0.0001). After subgroup stratification, ACPA positivity in DLBCL was significantly associated with male gender (4.4% versus 0%, p = 0.022; odds ratio 1.046, CI 1.014–1.079) and with RF-IgM seropositivity (1.77% versus 0%, p = 0.043), but not with prognostic parameters for DLBCL. Conclusions DLBCL is associated with a significantly higher prevalence of ACPA, with an increased prevalence in male patients, and simultaneous RF-IgM positivity. However, ACPA is not prognostic for DLBCL. The prevalence of RF-IgM, -IgA, or -IgG did not differ from healthy controls.
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