BACTERIA-SPECIFIC LYMPHOCYTE-PROLIFERATION IN PERIPHERAL-BLOOD IN REACTIVE ARTHRITIS AND RELATED DISEASES

The cellular immune response seems to be important for the pathogenesi s of reactive arthritis (ReA) and a bacteria-specific lymphocyte proli feration (LP) is often found in synovial fluid (SF) of ReA patients. H owever, the role of the bacteria-specific LP in peripheral blood (PB) is less well defined. In this study, we investigated 215 paired sample s of SF and PB from patients with ReA (n = 65), undifferentiated oligo arthritis (n = 133) and undifferentiated spondylarthropathy (n = 17) t o analyse the LP in PB and SF in relation to time. In 24 out of 87 pat ients (27.6%) with a bacteria-specific LP in synovial fluid, a positiv e LP to the same bacterium was also found in PB. While a positive LP i n SF was found most frequently in the first week of the arthritis, a p ositive LP in PB was detected in 45% of patients when investigated bet ween weeks 2 and 4 after the onset of arthritis, but was rarely found very early and late in the course of the arthritis. The time point see ms to be crucial for the investigation of an LP in PB in patients with ReA.