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Synovial fluids and paired sera taken from patients either before, after or at the time of diagnosis of definite rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were compared with samples from patients with unclassified inflammatory arthropathies (IA). Raised levels of immune complexes (IC) were detected in some RA patients by Clq binding activity but in the majority of both RA and IA patients by the platelet aggregation test; levels were usually higher in joint fluids than in sera. IgM rheumatoid factors (RF) and EgA RFs were lower in synovial fluids but IgG RF levels were similar in matched samples. Synovial fluid to serum albumin ratios were used to estimate synovial permeability (inflammation) and then to calculate which patients synthesized macromolecules locally in the synovium. Local synthesis of RFs was detected in a greater proportion of RA than IA patients and only two patients formed RFs locally in the first months of symptoms. Half the patients in both groups however appeared to synthesize or trap IC constituents and in many patients there was evidence of local synthesis within 6 months after their symptoms had started. We conclude that local synthesis of large amounts of RFs is uncommon in the early stages of RA but that IC of unknown composition are synthesized or localized in the affected joints of many patients with RA and inflammatory arthropathies shortly after their symptoms appear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty-three patients with early arthritis were studied longitudinally For up to years. During this time, 24 developed sufficient features for definite rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to be diagnosed The others (arthralgia patients) differed from the RA patient as in the majority, C-reactive protein and ESR were normal and anti-nuclear antibodies or rheumatoid factors were rarely found. Moreover, in time their signs and symptoms improved or disappeured. Circulating immune complexes were detected in both groups of patients by the platelet aggregation test whereas complexes detected by abnormal Clq-binding activity were found mainly in the KA patients. Platelet-aggregating complexes were usually present in the first samples studied and disappeared in the arthralgia patients with recovery from their symptoms. In the RA patients. Clq-binding complexes appeared simultaneously or later than platelet-aggregating complexes but both tests were positive several months before RA could be diagnosed. These results suggest that immune complexes are one of the first immunological abnormalities to appear in patients with arthritis. Although the constituent antigen and antibody of complexes detected by either test arc unknown, their possible nature is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eighty-two subjects with chronic arthritic pain were randomly assigned for 2 months without cross-over to either Reumalex, a licenced over-the-counter (OTQ herbal medicine, or a placebo. Entry characteristics were determined by a previous survey of arthritic customers at pharmacy and healthfood shop outlets. The AIMS2 questionnaire was completed at monthly intervals throughout and for 2 months prior to the trial, and a modified Ritchie Index provided clinical scores. Subjects also completed diary recordings of their use of self-prescribed analgesics and events they considered significant. There was a small but statistically significant improvement in pain symptoms, less so in sufferers from osteoarthritis. There were no other significant changes in any other measures nor in the use of other self-prescribed analgesics. There were few side-effects noted. It is concluded that Reumalex has a mild analgesic effect in chronic arthritis at a level appropriate to self-medication. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The MRSPAH (mixed reverse solid-phase passive antiglobulin haemadherence) test for antiglobulins (Agbs) of IgA, IgG and IgM classes has been quantified and also modified to measure their C3 fixing activity. An alternative ELISA technique is also described. Levels of all Agbs and their C3 fixing activity were significantly raised in established rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, early RA patients and established SLE patients. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients had normal levels of Agbs and C3 fixation. Patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM) had high levels of all Agbs, but these did not fix complement. Thus, C3 fixing activity of Agbs is heterogeneous and raised levels are associated with the presence of joint disease. Isolated IgA, IgG and IgM fractions showed examples of Agbs which fixed C3. The proportion of C3 fixed per unit weight of Agbs was no greater in 'hidden' Agbs from serum and synovial fluids (SFs) than in untreated serum, and Agbs in SF do not fix more C3 than in serum. We conclude that the C3 fixing activity of Agbs is not directly related to affinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with mild inflammatory arthritis (IA) were compared with patients with definite rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for abnormal frequencies of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens and haplotypes to determine whether a genetic predisposition either to RA or to mild self-limiting arthritis/arthralgia was present in the patients with IA. In general the MHC antigens with abnormal frequencies found in patients with IA differed from those in patients with RA and were mainly at the A and B loci. In patients with IA the frequencies of HLA-A24, A25, B27, and B35 antigens were significantly higher than those of controls and HLA-DR5 and C4A4 were slightly raised. In contrast, in patients with RA abnormal frequencies of the MHC antigens DR4 and DR2 and the extended haplotypes associated with them [B62 BfS C4A3 C4B3 DR4 GLO2] and [B7 BfS C4A3 C4B1 DR2] confirmed the observations reported on other white populations. Thus MHC antigen associations with IA and RA differ sufficiently to suggest a different genetic basis for the two conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Evidence of recent infection with human parvovirus B19 (HPV) was found in two patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and in four patients with acute inflammatory arthritis (IA). Both of the patients with RA but only one of the four patients with IA carried RA associated haplotypes. No evidence of persistent infection with HPV was found, but evidence of past infection with HPV was significantly more common in patients with RA than in controls. The results confirm the arthritogenic potential of HPV and are consistent with the hypothesis that rheumatoid arthritis may develop in a genetically predisposed patient after an arthritogenic insult such as an HPV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The feet of 200 consecutive admissions with classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis were studied. 104 were found to have pain or deformity. Clinical involvement of the joints was seen more often than radiological joint damage in the ankle, but the reverse was the case in the midtarsal joints. The metatarsophalangeal joints were involved most frequently both clinically and radiologically. Sixty per cent of the patients required modified shoes but only a third of these had received them. The need for more shoes is clear, and although this is a highly selected group of patients they were all under specialist care. The increased expenditure on special footwear would benefit the patient, firstly by improving ambulation, and secondly perhaps by reducing the number of operations necessary. Hallux valgus was very common and occurred with similar frequency to disease in the other metatarsophalangeal joints. Although not exclusive to rheumatoid arthritis, hallux valgus must have been caused for the most part by the rheumatoid arthritis and if so, then it is suggested that the provision of suitable shoes for patients may be less costly than subsequent surgical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]