Influence of corticosteroid pulse therapy on the serum levels of soluble interleukin 2 receptor, interleukin 6 and interleukin 8 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: To investigate the influence of corticosteroid pulse (CP) therapy on soluble interleukin 2 receptor (sIL-2R), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and IL-8 levels in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Twenty-five patients with active RA were studied before and after treatment with intravenous CP therapy. In 12 patients lymphocyte subsets were also assessed.

Anticardiolipin antibodies in uveitis.

Anticardiolipin antibodies (ACA) have been described in association with thrombosis and several vascular diseases and may be involved in retinal vasculitis. To investigate this question we tested sera from 86 patients with posterior uveitis and 100 healthy controls for the presence of anticardiolipin antibodies. The antibody was present in 15 patients: in 7 of the patients with acute retinal necrosis (n = 24), in 4 with idiopathic retinal vasculitis (n = 10), 3 with syphilis (n = 6) and in one SLE patient with retinal vasculitis.

Clinical diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis: a classification based on major and minor criteria.

The presence of antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) is a sensitive marker for the diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC). Since these antibodies are not specific for PBC, and differentiation of PBC from autoimmune chronic active hepatitis (CAH) has important therapeutic and prognostic implications, additional diagnostic criteria were investigated in 92 patients with AMA. Patients were classified as PBC, CAH, undefined chronic liver disease, or no liver disease by means of three objective methods, and these diagnoses were compared with those of the patients' own physicians.