The Unnecessarily Complex Story of Rheumatoid Factor

The story of rheumatoid factor could be a 10 minute episode, but in this episode, we dig deep into the history of the lab techniques leading up to this discovery…that happened twice.

Intro 0:15 Rheumatoid factor quick background and history 00:36 Rheumatology blood tests 3:02 What is Rheumatoid factor? 3:49 Spiderman and latex agglutination: Testing for rheumatoid factor 4:50 The double discovery of rheumatoid factor 8:03 Putting agglutination on the medical map in 1896 10:08 Pop Quiz! 11:21 Serotherapy 13:10 When did we start using agglutination for testing? 14:17 First discovery of blood groups 14:50 The complement fixation test 17:22 Testing for syphilis with complement fixation and agglutination 21:01 The first discovery of rheumatoid factor 24:11 We forget about rheumatoid factor 27:44 Rediscovering rheumatoid factor 28:20 Analytical ultracentrifugation 32:50 What rheumatoid factor is used for 36:01 Thanks for listening 38:22 We'd love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to Dr. Brown at rheuminationspodcast@healio.com. Follow us on Twitter @HRheuminations @AdamJBrownMD @HealioRheum.

References:

Assadian O et al. Wien Klin Wochenschr. 2010;doi:10.1007/s00508-009-1297-1

Edelman GM, et al. J Exp Med. 1958;doi:10.1084/jem.108.1.105

Franklin EC, et al. J Exp Med. 1957;doi:10.1084/jem.105.5.425

Fraser KJ. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 1988;doi:10.1016/0049-0172(88)90035-2

Jonsson R. Ann Rheum Dis. 2020;doi:10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-216822

Mohd Noor NH, et al. Cureus. 2024;doi:10.7759/cureus.68903

Tan EM, et al. J Exp Med. 2016;doi:10.1084/jem.20160792

Disclosures: Brown reports no relevant financial disclosures.