To evaluate the chronological change of serum anti-type II collagen antibody level according to the type of immunoglobulin (i.e. IgG, IgM) in chronic arthritic patients.

The serum levels of anti-type II collagen antibody were determined in three groups (control, degenerative arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis) with ELISA method. In each person, the serum levels of antibody IgG, IgM against human, bovine and chicken type II collagens were determined separately.

Since correlation coefficients of ELISA showed high values except in the case of denatured human collagen, ELISA test is regarded as reliable. In terms of denatured human collagen, no constant denaturation pattern induced variable results. With regards to chronological changes, there was no change of IgG titer in all three groups. IgM titer of control group was not varied according to time change. But IgM titer of arthritis group changed from time to time. Chronological changes of antibody titers depended on the types of antigen. In case of human collagen, there were changes of antibody titer in the degenerative arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis groups. And in the case of bovine collagen, change of antibody titer was observed only in the rheumatoid arthritis group.

Chronological change of IgG titer was not observed in the arthritis group but IgM titer changes are observed in that group. Thus, it might be a topic of future research to evaluate the relationship between the chronological change of IgM antibody and disease aggravation.