H. Mangge et al., Early rheumatoid arthritis is associated with diminished numbers of TH1 cells in stimulated peripheral blood, IMMUNOBIOL, 200(2), 1999, pp. 290-294
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been associated with an altered TH1/TH2 balan
ce. Here we present first results with a technique to quantitate stimulated
TH1 and TH2 subsets in whole blood by means of cytofluorimetric detection
of intracytoplasmic TH1 and TH2 cytokiner. A group of 10 patients suffering
from initial stages of RA exhibited a significantly reduced percentage of
TH1 cells (11.0 + 2.0%) in the peripheral blood as compared to 13 healthy,
age matched controls (28.8 +/- 2.0%). The TH2 response, as determined by in
tracellular expression of IL-4, remained unchanged. The data may indicate a
defect in the TH0-TH1 differentiation or/and a selective trapping of TH1 c
ells into the affected joints.