Analysis of the antigen specific helper T cell function and HLA-DR of Israeli patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) |
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| Authors: | M. Tishler C. Brautbar S. Battat M. Dayan E. Mozes |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Chemical Immunology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. |
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| Abstract: | Forty-three patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were studied for their ability to respond to the synthetic polypeptide antigen (T, G)-A-L as measured by the production of a T cell helper factor by their antigen activated T cells. Sixteen patients (37%) responded to (T, G)-A-L by the production of an antigen specific helper T cell factor, a percentage not significantly different from healthy donors. The production of antigen specific T cell helper factors was affected, although not significantly, by immune modulating drugs and by the presence of rheumatoid factor in sera of patients. The high incidence of HLA-DR 4 reported for RA patients was not observed in this group of RA patients. |
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