The role of infection in chronic arthritis.
The hypothesis that in arthritis an infectious agent functions at least as a triggering factor, if not a perpetuating one, has inspired decades of clinical investigation. Increasingly these studies are using more sophisticated tools of molecular biology which are applied in microbiology, immunology and immunogenetics. In the spondyloarthropathies these newer techniques are defining the molecular bases for the interplay of microbial antigen and the MHC antigens. The clues to provocative antigens are still elusive, although the class II MHC susceptibility is becoming clarified. Both viral and mycobacterial antigens are being examined in rheumatoid arthritis, but definitive answers are still lacking.
Inman
R D
RD
University of Toronto Rheumatic Disease Unit, Ontario, Canada.
D001168:Arthritis / Q000382:microbiology*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007239:Infections; D013166:Spondylitis / Q000382:microbiology