Abstract
The cell surface phenotypes and interleukin-2 related function were studied employing lymphocytes from peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) . The numbers of IL-2R positive and Ia positive lymphocytes from peripheral blood of patients with RA were increased when compared to normal blood. Con A activated lymphocytes both from PB and SF in patients with RA produced decreased IL-2. In contrast, unstimulated PB lymphocytes from RA patients, who had active disease and whose disease duration was less than 3 years, showed increased proliferation response to IL-2 (P<0.01) . RA SF lymphocytes showed increased response to IL-2 than PB lymphocytes with RA (P<0.01) . In synovial fluid, numbers of 2H4+CD4 cell were decreased. Those abnormalities in T lymphocytes from RA patients appeared to play an important role in pathogenesis of RA.
