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- Title
Disturbance of the Epstein-Barr virus-host balance in rheumatoid arthritis patients: a quantitative study.
- Authors
Yao, Q. Y.; Rickinson, A. B.; Gaston, J. S. H.; Epstein, M. A.
- Abstract
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) seronegative spondyloarthropathy (SA) and osteoarthritis (OA) patients receiving no steroid or disease-modifying therapy have been monitored, along with healthy controls, for their prevailing level of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection using four independent indices of the EBV-host balance, (1) levels of virus shedding in throat washings as measured by a cord-blood transformation assay of improved sensitivity, (ii) frequency of virus-infected B cells in the circulating blood as measured by the rate of `spontaneous' transformation in limiting dilution cultures. (iii) antibody hires to viral antigens. and (iv) virus-specific cytotoxic T cell responsiveness as measured in the in vitro regression assay. All four parameters indicated significant disturbance of the virus-host balance accompanying RA. the range of values exhibited by RA patients as a group in each case extending beyond the normal control range in the direction of more active infection. However, observations with SA and OA patients suggested that such a disturbance may not be RA-specific.
- Subjects
RHEUMATOID arthritis; AUTOIMMUNE diseases; EPSTEIN-Barr virus diseases; HERPESVIRUS diseases; BLOOD circulation disorders; T cells
- Publication
Clinical & Experimental Immunology, 1986, Vol 64, Issue 2, p302
- ISSN
0009-9104
- Publication type
Article