Characterization of the Leucocytic Infiltrate of Rheumatoid Synovium from Tissue Sections and Synovial Eluates

Connective tissue diseases and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are characterized by polyclonal B-cell hyperreactivity associated with an oligoclonal, disease-related pattern of autoantibody production. The underlying defects in immune regulations may be found either in the peripheral blood or locally at sites of lymphocyte/plasma cell infiltration. Our interest has focused on the local microenvironment of the inflammed joint as the main site for RA. The dynamic changes in histopathology-cellular infiltration and fibroblast proliferation- characteristic of RA-synovitis require separate analysis of the different states of the disease. In contrast to the morphological approach, a functional analysis of joint inflammation requires isolating the infiltrating cells. In this study, we report first on the distribution of mononuclear and polymorphonuclear (PMN) phagocytes in paraffin sections of different stages of RA-synovitis. Second, infiltrating lymphocytes were isolated from RA-synovium and the cellular eluates analysed for T-cell subpopulations.