Detection of Pathological Lymphocytes in Patients With Autoimmune Disease

The investigators are interested in learning about the immune cells in the blood that contribute to disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). They have developed a method for identifying a specific type of immune cells that can react against normal tissues in the body. In this study, the investigators will enroll RA patients from the University of Minnesota clinics, collect blood samples from enrolled patients, and process the blood samples to isolate DNA, RNA, serum, and blood cells. They will use the serum to detect whether specific autoantibodies (Anti-cyclic Citrullinated Peptide, or anti-CCP) are present. In cases where anti-CCP antibodies are detected, the investigators may quantify the numbers of immune cells present that contain receptors with the same anti-CCP specificity. They may also test whether the numbers of immune cells with these receptors correlate with measures of disease activity in RA patients.