SUMMARY Antikeratin antibodies reacting in a laminar distribution with keratinised rat oesophagus were found in the sera of a proportion of patients with rheumatoid arthritis but not in healthy controls. In (range 23-82 years), a male to female ratio of 38:61, and a mean disease duration of 10-1 years (range 1-39 years). Their duration of early morning stiffness (in minutes), the Ritchie index,5 and whether rheumatoid nodules were present were recorded.Two further groups were studied. Fifty healthy controls attending a blood transfusion centre was one group, and the other consisted of 16 patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS). IMMUNOHISTOLOGICAL TECHNIQUESAntitissue antibodies were detected by indirect immunofluoresence.6 Fresh rat oesophagus (middle third), stomach (with gastro-oesophageal junction), salivary gland, and kidney and human skin were snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and 5 ,tm frozen sections mounted on glass slides and fixed in absolute acetone at 40C for 60 seconds. Human serum was used diluted 1:5 with pH 6fl8 phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and fluorescein conjugated sheep antihuman immunoglobulin (IgG) antiserum at a dilution of 1:20 with PBS. Sections were examined on a Zeiss microscope, with an HBO 50 W mercury lamp and the following filters: 2 KP 490 blue interference filters, an LP418 ultraviolet barrier, and LP520 orange barrier, an FT510 chromatic beam splitter, and a KP 560 minus-red interference filter.

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