Cytotoxicity of synovial lymphocytes of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The lymphocytes in the synovial tissues of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) showed a cytotoxic activity against synovial cultured cells taken from patients with RA, in a similar extent to that of normal peripheral lymphocytes. However, the activity was weaker than that of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in synovial fluids of RA patients. In addition, the synovial lymphocytes of RA patients showed the natural killer activity against K 562 cells which were higher than that of normal peripheral lymphocytes and also ADCC activity which was similar to that of normal peripheral lymphocytes.