Number and phenotype of rheumatoid arthritis patients' CD4+CD25hi regulatory T cells are not affected by adalimumab or etanercept.

Objective: To analyse the therapeutic effects of etanercept (ETA) or adalimumab (ADA) on the numbers and phenotypes of CD4+CD25hi Tregs in RA patients.

Methods: RA patients received ADA (n = 28) or ETA (n = 20) and stable-dose MTX or LEF. Therapeutic responses were assessed with the 28-joint DAS (DAS-28) criteria after 12 weeks of treatment.