title: Spontaneous and aggregated IgG induced rheumatoid factor producing cells in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Seropositive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients were found to have high numbers of spontaneously occurring cells making rheumatoid factor (RF) reactive with human IgG as measured by a RF plaque forming cell (RF-PFC) assay. There was a significant positive correlation between the number of RF-PFC and both disease activity measured by the sedimentation rate and RF titer measured by the RA latex test. Aggregated IgG and pokeweed mitogen were equally effective stimulators of RF-PFC in cultures of RA peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes. The rheumatoid ratio of helper (T4): suppressor (T8) T lymphocytes was also significantly increased over the ratio of normal controls, but this ratio did not correlate with the number of RF-PFC. Aggregated IgG or immune complexes may be responsible for stimulating RA RF-PFC in vivo.
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Pisko
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Panetti
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Heise
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000921:Antibody-Producing Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000032:analysis; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology*; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D011043:Pokeweed Mitogens; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology*; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000945:Antigens, Differentiation, T-Lymphocyte; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D011043:Pokeweed Mitogens; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor