Persistence of Yersinia antigens in peripheral blood cells from patients with Yersinia enterocolitica O:3 infection with or without reactive arthritis.

Objective: To assess the persistence of bacterial antigens in peripheral blood cells from patients with Yersinia enterocolitica O:3-triggered reactive arthritis (ReA).

Methods: Peripheral blood samples were obtained from 20 patients with Y. enterocolitica O:3 infection (11 with ReA and 9 without).

Oncoprotein expression in human synovial tissue: an immunohistochemical study of different types of arthritis.

Based on the fact that synovial lining cells have some properties of transformed-appearing cells, we have examined the expression of Myc, Myb, Fos, Jun and Ras oncoproteins in synovial tissues from patients with different types of arthritis. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded sections of synovial tissue from 12 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 14 with reactive arthritis (ReA), nine with other seronegative arthritis (OSA), seven with bacterial arthritis (BA), eight with probable bacterial arthritis (PBA) and eight with osteoarthritis (OA) were studied using the immunoperoxidase staining technique. The oncoproteins studied were expressed both in the synovial lining layer and in the sublining layer, consisting of lymphocytes, other inflammatory cells and blood vessels.

Propionibacterium acnes isolated from sternal osteitis in a patient with SAPHO syndrome.

A woman presented with palmar pustulosis and deep chest pain in association with osteitic lesions in the lower part of the sternum. Propionibacterium acnes was isolated and grew in pure culture from 6 surgically obtained bone specimens. The patient received clindamycin treatment for 6 months.

Expression of bcl-2 in rheumatoid arthritis.

Since defective apoptosis has been suggested to play a role in the development of autoimmune diseases, we have investigated the expression of the proto-oncogene bcl-2 in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The expression of bcl-2 was studied in peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) lymphocytes and synovial tissues (ST) from patients with RA using immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry and nucleic acid hybridization. Patients with reactive arthritis (ReA) or osteoarthritis (OA) and healthy individuals were used as controls.

Yersinia-specific antibodies in serum and synovial fluid in patients with Yersinia triggered reactive arthritis.

Objectives: To further evaluate the role of bacterial antigens in triggering inflammation in the joint in patients with reactive arthritis by studying local antibody synthesis in the joint.

Methods: Yersinia-specific antibodies in paired serum and synovial fluid samples from 29 patients with yersinia triggered reactive arthritis were studied using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), an inhibition ELISA with six monoclonal antibodies against lipopolysaccharide or released proteins of yersinia and immunoblotting. Antibodies of IgM, IgG and IgA classes, as well as antibodies of IgA subclasses and those containing secretory component were measured against the lipopolysaccharide and the sodium dodecyl sulphate extract of whole Yersinia enterocolitica O:3 bacteria.