Immunopharmacological studies of bucillamine in rheumatoid arthritis.

We investigated the immunological effects of bucil-lamine which has been known as an immunomodula-ting drug with no anti-inflammatory effects, in 80 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients by using the flowcytometric analysis. All patients treated with bucillamine have been followed up for 12 months or over. Long term administration of bucillamine markedly improved arthritis related to the decrease titer of RAHA. Moreover, T cell subsets in the peripheral blood showed that the cell constituent ratio of CD4+ CD45RA+, characteristically increased by administration of bucillamine. On the other hand, CD4+CD 45RO+, CD4+HLA-DR+, CD8+HLA-DR+ and CD 5+CD20+ significantly decreased in accordance with the activity of RA. These results suggested that bucillamine play a role of an alterative lymphocyte subsets and improving the severity of RA.