Mitochondrial mutagenesis correlates with the local inflammatory environment in arthritis.

Background: To examine the association between mitochondrial mutagenesis and the proinflammatory microenvironment in patients with inflammatory arthritis.

Methods: Fifty patients with inflammatory arthritis underwent arthroscopy and synovial tissue biopsies, synovial fluid and clinical assessment were obtained. Fifteen patients pre/post-TNFi therapy were also recruited.

Synovial tissue analysis for the discovery of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in patients with early arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease of unspecified etiology that is manifest by persistent inflammation of the synovium. Considerable efforts have been undertaken globally to study the microenvironment of the inflamed synovium, with many encouraging and enlightening results that bring us closer to unmasking the precise etiologies of RA. Subsequent to these efforts, it has been discovered that CD68-positive macrophages present in abundance in the synovial sublining of the inflamed synovium rescind with treatments that induce clinical improvement in RA.