OBJECTIVE To measure synovial tissue interleukin-18 (IL-18) expression in patients with inflammatory arthritis, and to identify associations with serum levels, disease activity, and response to treatment. METHODS Synovial tissue biopsies and serum samples were obtained from patients with early, active, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n = 12), undifferentiated seronegative arthritis (SnA) (n = 9), ...

OBJECTIVE Our aim was to test the hypothesis that there is a deficit in the CD4+CD25high regulatory T-cell population in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA), either in size or functional activity. METHODS Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were examined from subjects with early active RA who had received no previous disease-modifying therapy (n = 43), from individuals with self-limiting reactive ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW The hallmark of ankylosing spondylitis is acute and chronic spinal inflammation initiating in the sacroiliac joints, often coupled with enthesitis, presenting as chronic inflammation at the sites of ligamentous and tendinous insertions into bone. Peripheral joint synovitis can be a prominent feature as well. Reactive arthritis is a sterile synovitis arising after an extra-arti...

Reactive arthritis is an acute, aseptic, inflammatory arthropathy following an infectious process but removed from the site of primary infection. It is often attributed to genitourinary and enteric pathogens, such as Chlamydia, Salmonella, Shigella, Campylobacter, and Yersinia, in susceptible individuals. An uncommon and less recognized cause of this disease is preceding colonic infection with ...

A growing body of evidence shows that tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha, a pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), is also involved in the pathogenesis of reactive and unclassified arthritis. Elevated levels of TNF-alpha and other pro-inflammatory cytokines are seen in these inflammatory arthropathies. The clinical effect on a potential underlying in...

OBJECTIVE To find out whether poststreptococcal reactive arthritis (PSRA) is a discrete, homogeneous clinical syndrome. METHOD Literature review from case reports and case series. RESULTS One hundred and eighty-eight cases were identified. The age distribution was bimodal, with one peak in childhood and one peak in adulthood. Eighty-three percent of streptococcal isolates were group A. The ...

The relation between serum and synovial fluid (SF) C reactive protein (CRP) concentrations was investigated in a variety of arthritides, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, and osteoarthritis. SF CRP levels were significantly reduced compared with serum levels in the inflammatory arthritides, but there was good correlation between serum and SF values. S...

Adenosine deaminase activity was determined in paired samples of serum and synovial fluid taken from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (n = 12), reactive arthritis (n = 13), and osteoarthritis (n = 7), and the value of this investigation in the diagnosis of synovial swellings was assessed. Increased activity was found in the synovial fluid taken from patients with rheumatoid disease and reacti...