CORRELATION OF INTERLEUKIN-2 RECEPTOR AND NEOPTERIN SECRETION IN RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS

In rheumatoid arthritis (RA) an immuno dysregulation alters the releas e of neopterin from human monocytes/macrophages, probably by activatio n of a feed-back regulation mechanism in pterin metabolism. With the o veractivation of T-lymphocytes, the secretion of interleukin-2 and its receptor (IL-2R) is influenced. Investigation on 84 RA patients has s hown that this immunoactivation is accompanied by an increased secreti on of neopterin and soluble IL-2R in the serum, and that both paramete rs are very suitable for detection of inflammatory disease activity. T he significant correlation between neopterin and IL-2R (r = 0.65; p le ss-than-or-equal-to 0.001) in RA points out a possible connection in p athomechanisms of the immune system.