Comparison of RF, anti-CCP and anti-dsDNA autoantibodies levels in plasma among the study groups.

<p>Levels of rheumatoid factor (RF) determined by kinetic nephelometry (<b>A</b>), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) (<b>B</b>) and anti-doubled stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) (<b>C</b>) determined by a fluorescence enzyme immunoassay (EliA test) in patients diagnosed with RA (<b>A</b> and <b>B</b>) (n = 11) or with SLE (<b>C</b>) (n = 7) (some patients had both diagnoses). Solid lines and error bars denote the median and interquartile range, respectively. The dotted lines correspond to the clinical limits below which a sample is considered negative according to the technique used for its detection (RF: <20 IU/mL, anti-CCP: <7 U/mL and anti-dsDNA: <10 IU/mL). Differences between HV and patients prior-RTX were evaluated with Mann–Whitney tests and between patients prior-RTX and patients after-RTX with Wilcoxon tests. All <i>p</i> values reported are 2-tailed.