| Abstract
| - Background. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) improves during pregnancy but flares after delivery [1]. Recent publications suggest N-glycosylation of the Fc-fragment of IgG herein [2]. Previous studies mainly focused on changes in galactosylation (Gal). However, animal studies suggest a more important role for sialylation (SA) in the process of immune suppression [3]. Fucosylation (Fuc) is also reported as an immunomodulatory feature by affecting binding to the Fcγ-receptor III via a carbohydrate-carbohydrate interaction [4]. Objectives. This study was designed to identify changes in IgG-Fc glycosylation, and whether the immunomodulatory properties of the changed glycan features are associated with decreased disease activity in RA during pregnancy and with the flare after delivery. Furthermore differences between patients and healthy controls were studied. Methods. Sera were obtained before pregnancy, three times during pregnancy and three times after delivery from RA-patients (n=251) and healthy controls (n=32) participating in a prospective cohort study on RA and pregnancy (PARA study). At all timepoints the Disease Activity Score incorporating 28 joints (DAS28-3(CRP)) was assessed and medication was recorded. The glycosylation states of tryptic Fc-glycopeptides of Protein G captured IgGs were analyzed subclass specific (IgG1, 2/3 and 4) using a newly developed, fast and robust mass-spectrometric method[5]. Results. In patients and controls it was found that during pregnancy Gal (in patients for IgG1 from 59.8±1.1% to 65.3±1.0%; mean±SEM), SA (idem from 19.1±0.5% to 21.8±0.5%) and afucosylation (idem from 5.9±0.4% to 6.3±0.4%) increase. These changes were all associated with improvement of RA. The relative increase in SA was more pronounced than the increase in Gal (p<0.01) on all IgG subclasses. Linear regression analysis showed that both changes in Gal as well as SA were independently associated with improvement of RA. After delivery levels of Gal and SA decrease, while Fuc increases. This was associated with a relapse of disease activity. Conclusions. Galactosylation, sialylation and fucosylation change during pregnancy and are correlated with disease activity. In contrast to animal studies the results of this study show that in humans not only SA, but also Gal might be involved in improving disease activity of RA during pregnancy. The molecular mechanism still has to be unraveled. Whether the immunomodulatory properties resulting from changes in glycosylation of IgG are due to influencing the interaction with Fcγ-receptors will be the subject of future research. This research project is financed by the Dutch Arthritis Association References. de Man, YA, et al., Arthritis & Rheumatism, 2008. 59(9): p. 1241-1248. van de Geijn, FE, et al., Arthritis Res Ther, 2009. 11(6): p. R193. Kaneko, Y, et al., Science, 2006. 313(5787): p. 670-673. Ferrara, C, et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011. 108(31): p. 12669-12674. Selman, MHJ, et al., Journal of Proteomics, 2012. 75(4): p. 1318-1329. Disclosure of Interest. None Declared
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