Antibodies to native and denatured collagens in sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

A passive hemagglutination assay was used to detect antibodies to native human collagens and to collagen chains in the sera of 110 rheumatoid patients and those of 75 normal controls. The incidence and titer of anticollagen antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis are high, but in controls they are low or in most instances absent. No correlation was found between the stage of RA, or titers of rheumatoid factor, or ANA and the incidence and/or titers of antibody to any given type of collagen.